Bella's Weeds
by sheridanodell
Summary: Bella is a newly widowed single mom who is desperate to make ends meet. Her free-loading brother-in-law, Jasper turns her onto his dealer who shows her a way to keep her head above water financially and maybe even emotionally. Alot like Weeds
1. Chapter 1

"How about a banana? Huh? uhhhmmm...Yummy!"

"DA! DA!" she screams back.

"An apple?"

"Daddy!" She screams but this time with her bottom lip stuck out in a pout and tears brimming her eyes.

"Sheridan, sweetie, aren't you hungry? You want some grapes? Those are your favorite." I say with as much fake excitement that I can muster.

"I…I…want my daddyyyyy!" she screams, fully crying now. All I can do is look at her there, strapped in her high chair. I thought that I could distract her with food, but even I can't quite fool my almost 2 year old. She knows something's wrong, and that it has to do with her daddy. They had this bond that I never really understood. She was her daddy's girl since the moment he first held her in the delivery room. She was his world and he could make anything better for her and I was just happy to be in the presence of such pure love. But he was gone now and she was stuck with me.

"I know honey. I know you want your daddy." I grab her under her arms and pull her up out of the high chair. She clutches to my shirt, that isn't really my shirt. It's his shirt that I found in the dirty clothes hamper. I sit down in the rocker in our living room and begin to rock her as she sobs into my neck. _God, help me. How am I suppose to tell my baby girl that her daddy, her favorite person in the world, is gone? That he is dead and never coming back. _

Jeffery and I were high school sweethearts. Our relationship was natural, like breathing. We got married right out of high school and made a home for ourselves here in Forks. Not long after, I got pregnant with Sheridan. He wanted to take care of "his girls", he liked to call us, so he got a job at his father's shipping company in Port Angles. The pay was really good and the commute wasn't bad. I spent my days taking care of Sheridan and our home. A home maker was never what I saw myself as, but it fulfilled me in a way I never knew existed.

Just as Sheridan is calming down, the door bell rings. "Probably Mrs. Lipman with another casserole." I mumble as I get up to answer the door. With Sheridan situated on my hip and still clutching to her daddy's dirty old soccer t-shirt, I take a deep breath to prepare myself and swing open the door. Standing before me is not Mrs. Lipman with another casserole, but Jeffery's older brother, Jasper.

Jeffery and Jasper looked nothing alike. It was often joked about that Jeffery was adopted because of his dark hair and bulky build. Jasper, like the rest of his family had blonde hair. This is where Sheridan got her golden curls, because it was definitely not from my side. Though both the Whitlock boys were tall, Jasper was lanky and lean and Jeffery was broad and built. Jeffery being bigger and more mature than Jasper often had people confused as to who was actually the oldest. Jasper is very….unique. He's a loner, never being tied down, free to roam, unless the state or county restricts travel for whatever offense he had committed. Jeffery and I kept an old water jug beside our refrigerator that we dubbed "Jasper's bail fund" because Mr. Whitlock had long ago run out of patience for his oldest son. So Jeffery soon became his go to guy when he was in trouble. We had accumulated quit a bit of change in it since Jasper had been spending most of his time in Canada where I guess they haven't grown tired of his criminal ways yet. However, now with Jeffery being gone, that change would be used to put food on the table until I can figure out what I am going to do.

"Jasper." I acknowledge him coldly, in hopes that he would know how pissed off I am at him for missing his only brother's funeral the day before.

"Hiya Bells…" he says with a shy crooked grin, like he knows I'm mad but thinks that his charm will get him out of it. No way Jose`!

"Don't call me Bells…." And just as I was about to lay into him for leaving me high and dry without any help with the funeral and his family and everyone else, Sheridan comes alive.

"Unca Jay!" she yells as she detaches herself from her daddy's t-shirt and reaches for the next best thing, her daddy's brother.

"Oh my goodness! Look at you!" he says as he grabs her under her arms and lifts her from me. "How old are you now? Sixteen? Has your mommy taught you to drive yet?" Sheridan shakes her head "no" and he sets her comfortably on his hip. "No? Well, I guess I need to get you behind the wheel of my van so I can teach you a few things, but first," he drops his voice to a whisper and says in her ear, "maybe you could ask your mommy for thirty bucks for gas because I just drove all the way from Alaska and I am literally on E."

With that, I huff and open the door wide to let him in, and Sheridan giggles at him though she doesn't understand what he said, I think she just likes the way he talks to her like a big girl.

"Alaska huh? Have they run you out of Canada already?"

Jasper had Sheridan set on the edge of the tiny kitchen island standing in front of her peppering kisses all over her face while making kissy sounds causing her to giggle again.

"Actually……they did!" He says to answer my question but never looks at me. He continues to play with Sheridan, now tickling her and making her scream. He thinks this will distract me.

"Jasper….what happened in Canada?" I won't be distracted.

Jasper gives up somewhat and looks at me.

"It's a long story, Bells, but legally I'm not at liberty to discuss it …"

"Wow. Ok Jasper. I don't care about Canada. Just…what are you doing here? The funeral was yesterday. You're a little late and don't call me Bells.

"Ok. I'm sorry" he says in a more serious tone. He picks up Sheridan and walks around me to the living room. I know this move. Things are about to get serious and he knows it, so he's going to use my daughter as a shield so I won't kill him. He sits down in the rocker I was in earlier and begins to rock her, and he's so much better at it than I was because she's out immediately.

"I would've been here yesterday, but there were some complications with me traveling through Canada. I would've just flown in from Alaska but I didn't have the money for a plane ticket, I barely had the money to drive. So I got held up over night at the border until they could contact the right people to ok me to pass through."

I felt a tear slide down my cheek. I believed him, as much of a fuck up Jasper is, I knew that he would never intentionally miss his brother's funeral. But I was still pissed. I was angry, on top of alone, on top of sad, on top of devastated, on top of helpless. I put my head down and covered my face with my hands as I began to sob.

"Oh God Bells I'm sorry," he says helplessly with my daughter still sleeping on his shoulder he couldn't really move to comfort me.

"Stop calling me Bells, Jeffery called me Bells."

We sat there for about an hour while Sheridan slept. Through my tears I noticed Jasper wiping at his cheeks with his one free hand.

Finally all cried out yet again for the hundred time this week, I stood up.

"Here, I'll take her and put her in her crib." But as I reached for her I saw both his hands gently grip her small back.

"Can I hold her a little longer? Please?"

"Sure, Jasper. As long as you want. I'm just going to take a quick shower. If you get tired of her just lay her in her crib, and if she wakes up see if you can get her to eat."

"Ok"

I use to love a long, hot shower, but since Jeffery's death I hate them. Well, they were still hot, as hot as I could make them, but not so long. I thought about too much in the shower, so I got out as fast as I could. I was so tired of thinking about not just how he died, alone on the wet road in a mangled old ford F150, but about him being gone in general. Every reminder of him was a reminder that he wasn't there anymore. Just looking at my daughter reminded me that he was gone. Then also, the fact that every other sentence out of her mouth is about her daddy had me thinking about how he wasn't coming back.

I got out of the shower and dressed in some old faded jeans and were ripped in the knees and a black t-shirt of my own. As I sat on the end of our bed and towel dried my hair I noticed the small pink specks of dried paint on the black shirt that I wore. They were from painting Sheridan's room after she was born. We painted it together. Yet another reminder that anymore painting in this house would not be done with Jeffery, but mostly likely by me. Alone.

"Hey" Jasper called from my bedroom door. " I put her down in her crib. My arms were starting to cramp up."

"Alright"

He walked over, sat next to me and put his long arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him and took in a deep breath of his scent, which was a lot like Jeffery's. Then I let it out.

"What can I do for you Bells…a, Bella?" he corrected himself. I grinned, but where he couldn't see it. "What do you need?"

"I need my husband back."

"I wish I could give him to you, but I can't."

"I know….God, what am I going to do Jasper? I can't do this. I have to figure this out. I have a baby to take care of and a house. I need to get a job but I have no skills. And I have no idea what to tell Sheridan when she asks me where her daddy is. What do you tell a toddler when her father dies?"

"Shhhh…Bella. Calm down. You will figure it out. I know you will. You're a smart girl. Maybe dad can give you a job down at the port. I'll ask him for you."

"No Jasper, don't. Besides I already asked him. He said that he would see but he didn't seem too hopeful."

"Fuckin asshole…"

"Yeah, he is kind of an asshole."

"Hey! I have an idea, lets get high!"

"What?! Jasper are you crazy? No way! I am not getting high with you."

"Yeah, I know. Don't know why I asked. I think there's something about mentioning my father that makes me what to light one up. Helps me forget, not that I could really forget. He would never let me."

"Forgetting sounds nice right now."

"You want to? I have some in my…." He began excitedly.

"No Jasper. Really, I couldn't. I have Sheridan now. I need to be responsible."

"Yeah, me too. Hey, remember when you and Jeff used to come over to mine and Sam's apartment and get high with us?"

"Yes I do, more than you obviously."

"What?"

"You must've been so stoned you thought that we were stoned too. We never got high with you and Sam. We just came over to make fun of you guys."

"Oh. Well, are you sure you couldn't use a few hits? It's all natural…"

"And illegal…"

"For now…but you just wait til Willie Nelson becomes president…"

"No thanks Jasper, I'll pass."

"Well, just in case you decide to stop passin and start puffin…" he reached out to my night stand and grabbed a pen and note pad. "I'm going to leave you with my guy's number."

"Your guy?"

"Yeah, my dealer." He said in a whisper.

"I said no thanks!"

"Take it! Just in case."

"No."

"Yes"

"No"

"Whatever. I'm leaving it. Use it or not. I don't care."

"I'm not going to use it."

"I don't care."

Jasper stayed for dinner that night and Sheridan didn't ask about her daddy, which was kind of sad in a way but I was relieved. I invited Jasper to stay on the couch but he refused saying that he had a friend in town that he was going to see and then he would probably be heading to Port Angeles tomorrow. He said that he would be back soon and that he had no plans to head back north until he had to. Even though I knew I would regret it when it came time to pay bills next month, I slipped him the thirty bucks he said he needed.

Getting Sheridan to bed that night was harder than usual. While she was screaming at me from her crib, standing there gripping her teddy in one arm and reaching out with the other I was ready to throw myself off the roof of the house. She wanted her daddy and she wanted "Unca Jay". Neither of them I could give her. I was on the verge of just leaving her there screaming when I got an idea. I ran to the hamper for one of Jeffery's dirty work shirts and put it on, buttoning only a couple buttons to keep it from falling off. Then I went back to Sheridan, picked her up and began rocking her in the rocker there in her room.

It was a miracle. Just like earlier when Jasper rocked her, she passed out and I was able to put her down. Her daddy's smell soothed her. I took off Jeffery's shirt and tucked it in next to her in her crib. I didn't care that it was dirty, and she didn't either. She needed it too much.

I headed back to my room and collapsed onto the bed. I was exhausted. Physically as well as emotionally. I looked over to the clock on my night stand. 1:13am. Then I noticed the not pad and in Jasper's handwriting it read: _113-486-5343 Edward. _


	2. Chapter 2

**I forgot to do this last time: I own nothing people. **

**Thanks for the encouragement from a few. I was truely surprised by the reviews and story alerts. I know it's been a while since my first update. I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to continue this story, my only story. I started my own business recently so I've been extremely busy, but the reviews made me want to. I know the first chapter seemed a little dark, so I tried to make up for it in this chapter. Oh, and also, I have no idea what I'm doing.**

Fran's Liquor Store. I searched for a job for two whole weeks and Fran's Liquor Store was the best that I could do. To say that I was a little disappointed was an understatement. But what could I expect? Really, with only a high school diploma, no degree and no experience, I was lucky to have this full time job at the only liquor store in Forks. Fran needed someone to work the early shifts from 10am to 4pm, Monday through Saturday.

This meant that Sheridan would be spending her days at the Methodist Church Daycare during the weekdays, and Saturdays with her "PawPaw", my dad, Charlie, Forks Police Chief. Charlie wasn't excited about my new job. He didn't like the idea of me working at a liquor store, but I explained to him that it was all that I could find and that I didn't plan on working there forever. Besides, I would be working the day shifts. When he offered to keep Sheridan on Saturdays I was hesitant at first. I didn't want him to have to cut back on his work hours or his fishing hours with Billy, but he explained that one of the perks of being the police chief was that he could take Saturdays off if he wanted to. And as far as his fishing trips were concerned, he could take Sheridan with him. "A young girl, living this close to the Pacific, should know how to fish at an early age" he said. As much as I hated the idea of leaving my little girl with strangers at a daycare all day and then relying on my father for help on Saturdays, I didn't have the luxury to argue about it. I needed money. I was drowning in bills and my checking account was looking really sad.

Work was pretty easy. I spent most of the day standing behind the counter at the register. It was interesting to see who came in and how often. Most days Fran had me come in an hour before we opened to do some light stocking and to open the back for any deliveries. The only bad part of my job was the looks of pity I got from people that I knew and some that I didn't. Those who knew me would tell me how sorry they were about my husband, and those who didn't know me but knew of me would just stare. Both made me uncomfortable.

Sheridan surprisingly does well going to daycare everyday. I was afraid that she wouldn't like it and that it would be a big hassle to get her there. However, when I go at 4:15 to pick her up she is always reluctant to leave. Apparently, this has something to do with a little boy named Harlin, who she does not stop talking about. It's cute, at dinner when I ask her about him, she'll say, "Harwin's my best friend!" Then she'll start some gibberish about playing with cars and somebody named Bubba. I don't know.

Not long after Jasper visited I tried to explain to Sheridan about where her daddy was. I told her that her daddy was with Jesus now and that he wasn't coming back. She cried a little and asked why. I told her that I guessed that Jesus needed daddy more than we did. Then she cried some more and so did I. It was the hardest thing that I've ever done, but she seems to be doing better now. I can tell that she misses him sometimes though.

It was a Saturday afternoon, and the store was busy. I hadn't left my register since noon. One good thing about being busy though, was that there was no time for small talk. I barely had time to look at faces to check IDs. So when I noticed that the hand with the perfectly manicured nails that were drumming on the bottle of Grey Goose Vodka belonged to the wicked witch of the west, Ms. Rosalie Hale, I was all too happy to get her in and out of my check-out line.

"Rosalie."

"Isabella."

I entered the price of the vodka in to the register and then hit appropriate keys, giving me the total for her purchase.

"That will be $24.98"

She then handed me a twenty and a five. So I, in return, gave her two pennies.

She stood there for a second, staring at me like she wanted to say something with her mouth opening and closing. I, of course, didn't want to hear it.

"Have a nice day, Rosalie", I said with no hint of enthusiasm or sincerity.

She gave a huff, grabbed her vodka by the neck and flew through the door.

Rosalie and I hadn't always hated one another. We were friends when we were little, up until high school. We met in ballet class when we were 8. She was beautiful and out going and I was plain and shy, but she took a liking to me for some reason. I never understood why she liked me so much. She would always stay over at my house when we had sleep-overs, which I also never understood because her house was so much nicer than mine and she had all the best toys. She didn't seem to care about that though and neither did I because we always had fun together, even if all we had to play with was a box of toothpicks. When we got to high school, things changed. I met Jeffery and Rosalie got mean. She started off just being cruel and then graduated to back-stabbing bitchery. She would throw herself at Jeffery. He, of course, resisted because, well…he was perfect. However, the more he resisted the harder she tried.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful and for that I was glad. Heading out the door, I thought of nothing but Sheridan and home. I wasn't expecting who was waiting for me at my car.

"Bella, I just wanted to tell you that I am sorry about Jeff."

"Thanks, Rose."

She had her arms crossed over her chest and was looking down at her feet. She looked beautiful in her expensive clothes, like she always does.

"So….how are you Bella?"

I started digging in my purse for my keys. "I'm ok. Thanks for asking."

"What happened to us Bella?" She asked with something that sounded like regret.

"Rose," I started with some frustration, "I don't have time for this. I have to go get Sheridan from daycare and I'm exhausted and I just don't have the energy." I opened my car door and got inside.

Rose reached out and grabbed the door to keep me from closing it. "Bella!" she whined like a five year old. "Why won't you be my friend?! Be my friend!"

_Holy shit! This bitch has lost her mind. _

I always thought she was crazy in high school. She just made my case.

"What is wrong with you woman?! Why do you want to be here for me now? You've treated me like dirt for years! You were mean. What do you expect?!"

"Yeah, well, you started it." _Is she serious right now? What is this? 2__nd__ grade? _"You thought you were so much better than me because you had a boyfriend!"

"What? Wait! You were mad because I had a boyfriend?" I asked with a giggle.

"No…not exactly. You dropped me Bella. You were always with Jeff and had no time for me! How do you think that made me feel? I lost my best friend to a stupid boy!"

Only Rosalie would refer to my now dead husband as a stupid boy.

"Look here crazy, I'm sorry if you're ego was hurt when you were no longer the center of attention, but I will not apologize for any of the time that I spent with Jeff. Not now, not ever."

With that, she lost the crazy for a second and gave me a look of pity. I pulled the door and she let go. As I headed to daycare I began to understand Rose a little better the more I thought about it. Her flirting with Jeff and anger toward me was all an attempt to get me to see how hurt she was. I should have known, I guess I was a bit caught up in my romance with Jeff to see it.

I pulled up to the Methodist Church Daycare and got out. I was still thinking about Rose and how crazy she is while looking at my feet as I walked toward the door of the building. I tended to do this a lot while in thought, look at my feet, which only added to my clumsiness.

"Hey Bella." I heard him just in time to stop before I ran into him. I looked up to see Emmett, with his big smile and huge dimples, and couldn't help but smile right back at him.

"Hi Emmett. How are you?"

"I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm fine" I said as I continued to walk with him to the door. "What are you doing here? You got a kid I don't know about?" _That's it. Get the attention off of me._

"Ha! Yeah, I probably do have a kid that neither of us know about!" he laughed. I laughed a little too. "No…I'm here to get my little brother."

"You have a brother young enough to be in daycare?"

"Yeah, I know. My mom started early and ended late. I pick him up occasionally to help her out in her old age." He joked some more.

"That's nice of you." I smiled.

We entered the building and were met at the pick-up area by Sue. Sue was a very nice Native American lady who happened to be friends with Charlie. She was the only reason I had any peace of mind about leaving Sheridan here.

"Hi Sue."

"Hi Bella. Hi Emmett. Let me go get the kiddos for you. I believe they're all ready to go." She disappeared into an open classroom full of screaming and crying toddlers. I stood there with Emmett in what was becoming an awkward silence.

"You guys still having your weekly poker games in the "man cave"?"

"We're starting them up again this week, actually. We skipped a few after Jeff's death. We all miss him a lot Bella."

"Me too." I smiled to try to lighten the mood but it didn't work.

"If you need anything Bella, please let me know. Jeff was one of my best friends and he'd probably come back from the grave and kick my ass if I didn't look out for you and Sheridan."

"Thanks Em."

"Let's go you two." I looked up to see Sue herding my daughter out of the classroom, my daughter who had a little boy attached to her hand.

"Hey Baby Girl, you ready to go home?" I asked my daughter as I held out my arms. She smiled real big, detached her hand from the little boy's and skipped over into my arms. I picked her up and noticed that Emmett had picked up the little boy to put him on his big, strong, thick, manly shoulders. Emmett's physique was definitely one to be appreciated and admired by all. He probably should've been a professional football player instead of an accountant. However, Emmett in a suit and tie was nice to look at, but right now he just made me think of Jeff.

"Buh Bye Sheri!" the little boy called from above Emmett's head, which was pretty high up there. "Let's go Bubba!" He then began steering Emmett around by his ears.

"Bye Harwin!" Sheridan called out to him and gave a little wave. _Oh, ok, so that's Harlin and Bubba is Emmett._

Emmett turned around then and said, "See around Bella."

"See ya Bubba."

**Please don't hate me. I'm slowly introducing all the characters in Bella's world. And again, I have no idea what I'm doing. Good news is that I'm going to have more free time since I work from home. So there will be a update soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing.**

**I'm still introducing characters so bare with me. This story is really starting to come together in my head. My pen is just having a hard time keeping up. Anyway, I was going to post this chapter last night but I got high instead. So, good morning and happy reading folks!**

This job isn't cutting it. I'm not making enough money. Between the mortgage, day care, car note, groceries and utilities I have nothing left. My credit cards are well on their way to being maxed out. I can barely make the minimum monthly payments, and now my car needs new brakes. Bills keep sprouting up out of nowhere, like weeds.

With my head on the edge of the kitchen table, I sat there with all my bills scattered out in front of me and tried to hold back the tears. _You're not going to cry Bella. Stop it! Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Figure it out! You have to._

I've been working for Fran for four months and I'm barely getting by. I went to her for a raise a few weeks ago. I knew it was too soon to be asking for one but I was running out of options. Though she listened to my dilemma and was very sympathetic, she just couldn't afford to give me the raise. I thanked her for her time. She is really a good employer. She always understands whenever I need to leave early to get Sheridan when she is sick, which isn't very often, thank goodness.

Charlie constantly asks if he can help me out with any bills, but I couldn't live with myself if I took his money. He's already helping so much by taking Sheridan on Saturdays. He's such a good grandpa too and Sheridan loves driving him crazy with all her questions.

I'm always on the look out for a better paying job. I'm just not having any luck. I ran into Emmett again at day care and even went as far as to ask him for a job. He had just hired a girl in his office a month before. If I had only asked sooner he said he could've hooked me up. He did tell me to check with his good friend Carlisle Cullen, who is an attorney in town. I knew of Mr. Cullen but I didn't really know him. I knew that he played poker at Emmett's because I remembered Jeff mentioning him before, but he never said anything other than he reminded Jeff of a younger Hugh Heffner. When I finally got the interview with Mr. Cullen he was nice like everyone else, aside from his not so subtle glances at my tits, but he couldn't offer me the amount per hour I needed. However, during the interview he learned that I was a single mom and offered the babysitting services of his daughter, Katie, who would be starting classes in the fall at the nearby community college, much to his dissatisfaction. I told him that unless she worked for free that I couldn't afford her. He gave me her number anyway.

I'm so desperate for a better paying job, that yesterday before I went to get Sheridan from Charlie, I drove to La Push to a strip club. They were looking for new dancers. Topless dancers. I was going to apply, but as I sat there in the empty parking lot I couldn't make myself get out of the car. I was startled when I heard a soft tap on my window.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you," a very large Native American young man said through the window. "Are you ok?"

"No…I mean yes, I'm fine. You just caught me by surprise," I said nervously.

"A pretty lady like you shouldn't be sitting out here alone. This isn't exactly the best part of town." Coming from someone else that might have sounded scary and kind of creepy, but there was something about this guy. He seemed sincere, not to mention cute.

"I was just about to head inside actually," I said as I opened my car door.

"Oh. Well, ummm…we're not actually open yet," he said with a confused look on his face.

"I know. I'm here to apply for a job…as a dancer, or maybe a waitress. Whatever I can get," I said hoping that just maybe I wouldn't have to take my clothes off. If it weren't for the strange calming affect this guy had on me I probably would've puked on myself, I was so nervous. "You work here?"

"Yeah, I'm Jake, the manager," he said proudly slightly puffing out his chest.

"Bella. Nice to meet you." I reached out and shook his hand.

"You too. How bout we go inside and talk about this job."

I followed him into the club, which was actually quite nasty and dingy with the bright lights on. I'm sure that during working hours with the lights low it looked fine, but now it was gross. He lead me to the back into a very small office where the interview ended as quickly as it began when Jake said that he would need to see the goods.

I don't know what I was thinking. I'm way too shy and Charlie would surely find out eventually and probably have a heart attack.

When I pulled up to Charlie's, he and Sheridan were outside kicking a ball around waiting for me. So of course, when I pushed on the brakes before putting the car in park Charlie noticed the horrible grinding noise my brakes were making. I was finally allowed to leave with my daughter to go home, after repeatedly refusing money from him to get them fixed, once I promised to let him follow me out to the mechanic's shop tomorrow to drop off the car.

So here I sit. I wasn't sure how I would afford it, but I know I can't drive around with bad brakes and a baby in the car. So I gave up on trying to make the numbers magically work, lifted my head off the table and went to bed.

Charlie showed up bright and early the next morning in his police cruiser. Once we were ready to go I strapped Sheridan in her car seat in the back of the cruiser, which was one of the strangest things I've seen. Sheridan liked it though, she said she was a monkey in a cage and continued to squeak like what she thought a monkey sounded like. It was cute.

Fran told me about a new shop this side of Port Angeles when she heard my brakes last week. She said that I could get a better deal there than here in Forks. So, off I went with Charlie not far behind.

Masen Automotive was exactly where Fran said it was. The shop looked so clean and brand new on the outside. There were cars placed randomly throughout the small parking lot and a few in the bays being worked on, but I didn't see anyone working. I parked in front of the office and made my way inside while Charlie pulled in behind me to wait.

The bell on the door jingled as I pushed it open and walked into the office. Just like the outside, the inside was just as clean and new.

I was immediately greeted by the young girl at the desk.

"Hello. Welcome to Masen Automotive. I'm Alice. What can we do for you today?"

As she said this she stood up to reveal her petite frame. If it weren't for how she dressed and presented herself, I would have guessed her to be sixteen years old. She wore a black button down ruffle collared top with a black leather belt worn high on her waiste and white pants with some dangerously tall heels. She wore her brown hair in a cute pixie cut and straight as a board. Though I knew this place was brand new and I had never been here before, I felt like I knew Alice from somewhere.

I reached my hand out to meet hers. "Hi. I'm Bella." There was not a hint of recognition on Alice's face as I shook her hand. _Maybe I don't know her._ "My brakes need replacing."

"Alright, well, our mechanic had to step out of the shop for a little while today so it maybe later this evening before they're done."

"That's fine," I said quickly. "My dad followed me here and he can bring me back later." I gestured to the police car out the window as I said this.

Alice hurriedly took all my information and my keys in what seemed like a way to get me out of there quickly, while I raked my brain as to where I might know her.

"Ok Bella. Here's our card, just in case you need it, and we'll call you today when your car is ready."

"Thanks." I slipped the card in my back pocket.

"You're welcome. Have a nice day" she called politely as I turned to leave.

Later that day, after feeding Sheridan and putting her down for her nap, my cell rang while I was lying in bed resting. Looking at the screen of my crappy cell, I didn't recognize the number.

"Hello" I answered groggily.

"Hello. Is this Bella Whitlock?" the velvet voice on the other end asked.

"Uh huh," I replied like an incompetent idiot.

"Hi Bella, this is Edward with Masen Automotive. I was calling to let you know that your car is ready. I was able to change the brake pads, which fixed the problem you were having."

"Oh. Ok. Thanks." Wow. His voice is heaven. I found myself becoming aroused for the first time in months by his voice alone. Geez! I don't even know what this guy looks like.

"No problem. So, whenever you're ready…you can come by and pick it up. Unless you need me to drop it off to you. I could do that. It wouldn't be a problem."

"Umm…no, that's not necessary, Edward. Thanks though."

"You're welcome Bella." Oh my God, I think I just came in my panties. The way he says my name!

"So, how much do I owe you?" I squeaked out embarrassingly.

"Actually, it has already been taken care of, so…"

"What? What do you mean? Who paid my bill?"

"Umm…I'm not sure."

"You don't know who paid it?"

"No, whoever it was, Alice dealt with them."

Who the hell would pay my bill? I don't need anyone's help. Who do they think they are going behind my back like this? Charlie. Had to have been him.

"Alright Edward. I'll be by as soon as I can. Thanks again."

"Like I said, not a problem. Just call me if you need anything…with your car, I mean."

"I will."

"Good bye Bella."

"Good bye Edward."

I immediately called Charlie on his cell. He didn't answer. So I called the station. Lori, the dispatcher, said that he got called out to La Push for emergency assistance. Great. I need my car. Shit! I could call Edward and have him bring it to me like he offered to do. No. I can't. I don't even know him.

So I fished out my old address book from the night stand and found Emmett's number.

So for the second time that day, I strapped Sheridan in her car seat in the back seat, but this time it was in Emmett's jeep.

"Thanks for doing this. I really appreciate it Emmett."

"Don't mention it!"

The drive to Masen Automotive was spent talking easily with Emmett. It wasn't hard to like him. He's actually a lot of fun to be around.

When we arrived at Masen Automotive I was hit with a wave of nervousness. I was going to get to put a face to that beautiful voice. I was going to meet Edward. Emmett waited with Sheridan while I went in. Like earlier that day the door bell jingled when I pushed through the door and I was greeted by…

"Alice."

"Hey Bella. Nice to see you again. I have your keys right here, and you're good to go." She said handing over my keys.

"Thank you. Look Alice, about my bill…"

"Don't worry Bella. It's been taken care of already."

"I know but, you see, I don't know who paid it, so I still want to pay you myself."

"But Bella…"

"No Alice, please, just let me pay."

"I can't Bella. Please, you'll just be making more work for me. I've already entered the payment into our system and if I have to change the payment info it will take me all night and I'm sort of new at this, so please just let someone help you" she finished knowingly.

"Fine. Just to save you the extra work. But you have to tell me who it was."

"Umm…I didn't get his name actually."

"Well, what did he look like?"

"Humm…let's see. He was kind of tall, middle aged, with darkish blonde hair, sort of good looking. I'm not really sure though."

"That sounds like no one I know."

Just then there was a loud honk from the parking lot. Emmett.

"Oh ok. I have to go. Thanks anyway Alice."

"Anytime Bella. Come Again!" she called after me.

As Emmett and I were loading Sheridan into my car I asked him if he paid my bill. He said that he had no idea I was having my brakes done until that evening. Only Charlie and Fran knew about my brakes and where I was taking my car. But Alice said it was a guy, but the guy she described didn't sound like Charlie.

I thanked Emmett for the ride and headed home. I still had no idea who paid for my brakes or what Edward looks like.


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing.**

**This is my shortest chapter so far, but it's also my favorite. Hope you enjoy.**

It was Saturday again before I got around to asking Charlie about paying for my brakes. He said that he knew nothing about it, and I believed him. I was pretty good at reading Charlie. We talked about who it might have been but couldn't come up with anyone. Charlie suggested that perhaps I have a secret admirer, an idea that I shot down rather quickly. However, it did make me think, did Alice describe Carlisle Cullen? Though her description seemed extremely vague, I guess it could've been him she described. He was middle age and kind of tall. However, his hair is very blonde, not "darkish blonde", and Carlisle is definitely good looking, not "sort of", but maybe Alice didn't think so. But how would Carlisle have known I was having work done on my car and where I was having it done no less? Maybe I didn't have an admirer, maybe I had a stalker. I should pay more attention to my surroundings from now on.

Charlie did suggest another ridiculous idea, "Maybe it was Jeff taking care of "his girls"." He continued, saying, "Even in the after life Jeff knows that you won't allow anyone but him to help you." Though thinking of Jeff without crying had been getting easier to do, I had to change the subject this time.

"Dad, I know you want to help me with my bills, but this is something that I have to figure out. If I've learned anything, it's that I can't rely on anyone…because people can leave and it's just best not to depend on anyone but myself. Besides, I need to be able to take care of Sheridan. She's going to get older and go to college one day and I will be the one to see that she has every opportunity. It wouldn't be fair to you or anyone else if I don't step up and take care of her and myself."

"I understand where you're coming from Bella. I'm proud of you, but just promise me that if you get into any trouble that you'll lean on me. Ok?"

"Ok. I will. I promise… Thanks Dad."

"Besides, you're my baby and Sheridan's my grand baby and I want to be there for you both."

It was probably the deepest conversation I'd ever had with Charlie, as well as one of the few times I called him "Dad".

Sheridan and I spent the following Sunday relaxing. It was peaceful and really nice just to spend the day playing with her. We were sitting on the floor in the living room after dinner that night playing with Sheridan's baby doll, when the door bell rang. I wasn't expecting Charlie or anyone else for that matter and it was getting kind of late for visitors, so I was a little nervous about answering the door. However, when I peeked out the peep hole of the front door I saw the retreating form of one of the last few people I ever expected to see, especially on a school night. I swung the door open in haste.

"Jackson?!" I called to his back.

He stopped immediately and turned back to face me. "Bella! Thank God you're home."

I wasn't prepared for the big black, swollen eye that graced my younger brother-in-law's face. "Oh my! Jackson, what happened to you?!" I met him halfway to the door to get a better look at him. The relief that was on his face when he saw that I was home was now gone and replaced with what looked like guilt. He hung his head and he slumped his shoulders. I immediately went into "mom mode". "Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere else?"

A tear slid down his right cheek as he shook his head no. "You should see the other guy." While when most guys make that statement it's meant to sound macho and bad ass, but when Jackson said it, the words were drenched in guilt and regret.

"Come on. Let's get you inside." I pulled him through my front door and locked it. Then I took a quick glance at Sheridan, who was now watching CNN for some reason and seemed quite content doing so. So I drug Jackson into my kitchen and had him sit down at the table. I then grabbed a bag of frozen peas from the freezer, a glass of water and two mild pain killers.

"Here. Take these and put this on your eye."

He popped the pills, took off his glasses and clutched the peas over his eye while making a hissing noise.

I sat down next to him at the table and took a second to take him in. Other than his eye, he looked ok. This whole situation seemed so surreal though. Jackson with a black eye? I would've never thought. While Jackson looked a lot like Jasper, he had Jeffery's level head. He is definitely not the type to fight. The kid is sweet as sugar. If I was honest with myself, I thought Jackson was a bit nerdy, with his glasses, big teeth and lanky build. He was the only sixteen your old I'd seen with such perfect posture. Most times his posture rivaled that of a General in the Confederate Army, but now sitting at my kitchen table he just looked defeated.

"Now, tell me what happened."

"I told Dad about the band."

"The band…you're in a band?"

"Yeah."

"He didn't like that you're in a band?"

"Nope."

"So, he hit you?"

"No."

"Who hit you then Jackson? Spit it out. It's like pulling teeth with you!"

"No, Dad hit me, but I hit him first." Another tear slid down his cheek.

I reached across the table and rubbed his hand. "Tell me why you hit your dad."

"I just…wanted him to come to our gig. I knew he wouldn't approve but I thought that if he saw how good we were, he would be proud. We've been working so hard…" he trailed off now wiping his cheeks of the tears. Then his expression changed to angry. "I just got so mad…" he continued gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. "He just wouldn't shut up about how Berkley didn't care about how good my band was and that I shouldn't be worrying about Stupid shit like my band." He let out a rush of air. "So I hit him, and I didn't stop. I knew it was wrong but I did it again. That's when he hit me, so I stopped." He covered his face with his big hands. "I'm horrible Bella! What kind of son attacks his own father?"

"Shh…no Jackson, you're not horrible", I said as I stood up and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "It's going to be ok. I'm sure he feels just as bad for hitting you", I told him, but in all honesty, I didn't know what to tell him. He shouldn't have hit his father, and his father shouldn't have hit him either. Should I call CPS? Should I call Mr. Whitlock? Mrs. Whitlock?

"Bella, he kicked me out. He won't talk to me, neither will Mom, and I can't get a hold of Jasper. I have no where to stay and…" He was starting to panic. That's when it hit me. WWJD. What would Jeffery do? Jeffery would have Jackson stay here in a heart beat.

"Stay with us." I blurted out. "Stay with me and Sheridan. You can have the guest room and we will figure this out together." I saw some of the panic leave his features but he looked usure.

"I don't know Bella. I wouldn't want to burden you."

"Nonsense! You're staying here. We're family. Besides, you can babysit-"

"Ok! You talked me into it", he said before I could finish. I smiled at his eagerness.

"Good! Now, have you eaten anything? I have some left over spaghetti."

"I ate earlier but I could make room for some of your spaghetti."

I heated up the spaghetti and served it to him.

The next morning on my way to work, after I dropped off Sheridan at daycare, I called Mrs. Whitlock from my cell. I told her that Jackson was staying with me. She seemed a bit surprised. When I told her that Jackson felt terrible and wanted to come home she was indifferent. So I told her that if she and Mr. Whitlock weren't going to get Jackson back home then I needed her to register him at Forks High. She said that she would handle it and to tell Jackson to expect to start classes next Monday. I just couldn't understand how she could be so cold to her son. It made me furious. I knew that they were never really parental, but Jackson is a good kid, He's so smart and talented, never in trouble.

The conversation with Mrs. Whitlock put me in a bad mood that day, but things started looking up after I picked up Sheridan and headed home. I made a meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas, and we all sat down at the table for dinner. For some reason, having Jackson there was good for my soul and made me feel a little less lonely.

Later that night, after I got Sheridan in bed, Jackson and I talked a bit about his mom and dad and the whole situation. He still felt terrible but he said that his parents wouldn't return his calls. I told him that maybe he should give them some time. I just couldn't understand though. They'd already lost one son and now they were pushing this one away. I couldn't think about it without getting upset so I changed the subject.

"So, how are you feeling about starting at Forks High?"

"I don't know. I know that it's going to be smaller than Port Angeles but I think I might kind of like that."

"Maybe you'll get to reconnect with some old friends."

The Whitlock's moved from Forks to Port Angeles after Jeffery graduated, Jackson was in Jr. High.

"Hey, I need to get my oil changed, I'm about a thousand miles over due. You know a good place?"

"I sure do. Masen Automotive, it's that new place up toward Port Angeles. Really nice people", I thought fondly of Alice and especially Edward. "Let me get the number for you."

I went upstairs to my bedroom and pulled out the drawer of the nightstand. I dug around in all my junk until I found the card I remembered tossing in there. I took a second to look over it because I'd never looked at it before. It was a pretty simple card, just white with black letters. It read:

Masen Automotive

113-576-2167

113-486-5343 _cell_

I had reached down to put the drawer back into the nightstand when I noticed an old faded piece of paper from my note pad. _Edward 113-486-5343 _was written in Jasper's hand writing. I picked it up and compared the two numbers. They were the same.

"_I'm going to leave you with my guy's number."_

"_Your guy?"_

"_Yeah, my dealer."_

My mechanic with the swoon worthy voice was Jasper's dealer. Edward is Jasper's dealer. Edward sales weed.

"Hey, did you find that number?" Jackson was standing at my bedroom door waiting.

"Yeah, here you go", I said as I extended the Masen Automotive card out for Jackson, while I crumpled Edward's number and stuffed it into my pocket.

"Thanks, I'll probably call in the morning. You said they were nice?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I think the mechanic there is a friend of Jasper's."

"Huh, well, maybe I can get a good deal then, or maybe he'll know where the hell Jasper is."

"Maybe. You know Jasper though, he is where he is."

"He's like a damn nomad. I guess I'm pretty lucky to have you Bella. Thanks for taking me in."

"I'm glad you're here actually. Jeffery would've wanted you here with us."

**It may seem like I brought Jackson in out of left field, and I sort of did, but he's one of my favorite characters. We'll have fun with him! I'm excited.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothing...not even this chapter because I don't want it. It's not my favorite. Hopefully I can get this out of my system and move on to some good stuff. You may need some caffine to stay awake for this one. Sorry folks.**

"So, did you get your oil changed today?"

"Yep. Sure did," Jackson said as he shoveled hamburger helper into his mouth the next night at dinner. "The mechanic, Edward, said that he hasn't seen Jasper in months, but he thought that he remembered Jasper mentioning riding down to Texas for something."

"Yeehaw."

We finished dinner in a comfortable silence. With Jackson's mention of Edward, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about him. I was dying to know if there was a sexy body to go with his sexy voice. Not that I would do anything if there was, I was just curious, but I wasn't about to ask Jackson. No, that would be weird. Mostly, though, I thought about his selling weed. Was he a big time dealer or was he just a mechanic who sold a little pot on the side? Does he smoke it? Does he grow it? I wonder how much money he makes selling it? I bet he's been to jail. Humm… he probably has tattoos… yummy.

The rest of the week was spent fantasizing about a sweaty, greasy mechanic with broad shoulders and defined muscles and a few well placed tattoos. My imagination surprised me. I would catch myself getting carried away by it at work, in the car, while cooking dinner and even in the shower. However delicious my fantasies got, they were just fantasies, and I would die if anyone knew what I was thinking.

Jackson started at Forks High on Monday with still no word from his parents.

I came home on Tuesday to find Jackson sitting at my kitchen table with a girl. They had books scattered out in front of them.

"Unca Jax!" Sheridan called from my hip as I opened the front door. The two of them had grown quit found of one another over the past week. It took us a few days to get her to quit calling him Uncle Jay and eventually Uncle Jax is what stuck. They are good together. He lets her brush his hair with her baby doll's brush and she lets him read to her from his Blender magazines. He often comments on how smart she is for a two year old.

Sheridan launched herself from my hip and ran to the table where Jackson had pushed away to pull her up into his lap. I set down my purse and the diaper bag on the island in the kitchen while the girl stood up to greet me.

"Hi. You must be Bella. I'm Katie" she said with a big smile on her face. I took a second to take in her appearance. She was tall and very slim. Her hair was long, straight and a light brown color. Her eyes were wide and the darkest blue I had ever seen. Her clothes were simple, just a long sleeved tee with gray jeans and sneakers. My kind of girl.

"Nice to meet you," I replied.

"Katie came over to help me with my chemistry class," Jackson interjected quickly, as if to justify her presence to me. He looked a little worried that I wouldn't approve or that he was breaking a rule having a girl over.

I smiled at him to ease his worry and said, "That's so nice of you Katie." I didn't buy it though. Jackson's always been a straight A student. He didn't need any help, especially in a class he was taking at Forks High.

"It's not a problem," she said in response to my comment but looked shyly from under her lashes at Jackson as she sat back down and smiled. He smiled back and held her gaze, completely oblivious to the toddler speaking gibberish while sitting in his lap pretending to read what looked like a chemistry book.

I cleared my throat to break their trance. "Would you like to stay for dinner Katie?"

"Umm…Sure?" she said with her eyebrows raised to Jackson as if to ask him if it was ok with him. He nodded…eagerly. "Ok, let me call my dad and let him know." She smiled brightly at him before turning to me to ask to use the phone.

I handed her the cordless. She took it into the living room to make the call. I noticed Jackson's eyes following her retreating backside. When she was out of sight his eyes snapped up to mine and went wide. Caught ya! I just smiled and laughed silently shaking my head. Jackson groaned at me and went back to playing with Sheridan while I started dinner. A few minutes later Katie joined us.

"My dad said to tell you hi."

I looked up to see that she was speaking to me.

"Your dad? Who's your dad?"

"Carlisle Cullen. When I told him that you invited me to stay for dinner he said to tell you hi."

"Oh! That's right. I remember him mentioning he had a daughter. Well, when you speak to him again tell him hello for me." Thinking of Carlisle made me think of my brakes, and thinking of my brakes had me thinking of Edward...again.

Jackson and Katie continued to study while I cooked and Sheridan colored in her high chair next to them. During dinner they talked about school. It was nice to just listen to them. They seemed to get along really well. I was happy for Jackson and Katie seemed like a nice girl.

It was almost 10 PM when I fell into bed after getting Sheridan to bed and waiting for Jackson to get back from taking Katie home. I snuggled down into my cotton sheets on my king size bed and was almost asleep when my cell started to ring. I didn't even check to see who it was before answering.

"Hello?"

"Ummm…Bella? It's Edward."

"…" My heart rate quickened and chills crawled up the back of my neck with the sound of his voice. I was shocked into silence.

"Edward Masen…from Masen automotive? I fixed your brakes a few weeks ago?" He must've thought that I didn't remember him, which wasn't the case at all, but he couldn't read my mind to know that.

"Yes! Of course. Edward. Hi." I sputtered out as soon as the connection between my mouth and brain was reestablished.

There was a few moments of silence. All I could hear was his shallow breathing, otherwise I'd of thought the call was lost.

"Did I wake you?" His voice was low and rough and the sound of it sent vibrations through the phone into my ear that traveled all the way down my body to my toes, causing a tightening in my lower stomach.

"No, no you didn't. I just got into bed actually." He went silent again. Oh shit! I slapped my forehead with the heel of my hand. Why did I just tell him I was in bed? He probably thinks I'm being inappropriate.

He cleared his throat then. "Well, I want to keep you, I mean I _don't _want to keep you… from bed. Uh…I'm sorry. I just wanted to check on you… I wanted to make sure your brakes are working still."

Wow. Was I imagining this? Whether it was intentional or not, his words sent thrills up my spine. I took a deep breath.

"Yes, they're working great."

"Good. I'm glad you're satisfied… with the work I did… on your car."

I was getting hot. My palms were sweaty and the backs of my knees were too. I kicked the covers off. I released my lower lip from my teeth and replied.

"Well, I appreciate you calling to make sure. That's very nice of you."

"Not a problem. My business is fairly new so I like to make sure my customers are happy so that they send their family and friends to my shop for their automotive needs. Word of mouth is the best advertisement."

"That's what I hear. Actually, I sent my brother-in-law to you last week for an oil change. He said he spoke with you about Jasper."

"Oh yes. Jackson. Good kid. He mentioned that he was staying with you."

We talked comfortably a bit about Jackson and his situation. Without even really thinking about it I was spilling my guts to Edward about everything. About work and being a single mom. He listened to me attentively, asking questions occasionally. It was nice to have an adult to talk to.

"Look Edward. There's something I need to tell you. A few months ago, before he left, Jasper gave me your number."

"He did?"

"Yeah. Just in case I wanted to … make a purchase?" I didn't mean for it to sound like a question but I was nervous about bringing it up. I mean, would he care that Jasper told me that he was a dealer? I didn't want to make him mad but I also didn't think Jasper would've divulged that information if Edward would've had a problem with it.

"Are you interested… in making a purchase?"

"Ummm…not so much in purchasing as I am in selling."

He seemed to struggle with what he was about to say, not being able to find the right words. Then he chuckled. "You want to sale pot?"

"Well, I'm interested in it, I mean, I work at a liquor store making $9 an hour, I've tried to find other jobs, hell, I've even attempted an interview at the strip club in LaPush as a dancer. I could use the money."

I guess my speech sobered him up because he stopped laughing.

"You're not really the type to be selling weed, Bella."

"Honestly Edward, I don't care anymore. What type do I need to be other than the type that needs to make money?"

"You're a good girl."

"And you're a nice guy."

"You're a mother."

"A mother who needs to provide for her daughter."

"Your dad is the police chief of Forks."

Damn. He had me there.

"Look Edward, I just want to be able to take care of my family, of Sheridan and Jackson and even Jasper. You can understand that, can't you?"

He was silent.

"I'm sure you didn't plan to grow up and sale pot. I'm sure you do it because you feel you have to." It was then that I realized that I really didn't know much about Edward. Maybe he has a family he is responsible for like I do.

"There are enough hassles in the world Edward, don't be another one."

**Congrats! You made it to the end of this crapter!**

**Hot mechanic Edward says that he will check under the _hood_ of anyone who can guess the name of the movie I borrowed the last line from. **


	6. Chapter 6

**I own nothing.**

**I feel like such a douche. The movie quote I gave y'all in the last chapter was wrong. I'm a lame ass. When I watched the movie again with my brother a couple days ago I realised that it was "There are enough ASSHOLES in the world, don't be another one." It's assholes not hassles. No wonder nobody got it. I apologize for the mistake, but you must admit that assholes does sound like hassles.**

**Anyway, I've left another movie quote in this chapter (besides the obvious ones from Twilight). I think that it's a bit easier and I'm sure that it is right this time. I will send the first person to review with the right answer my recipe for my special brownies. Yummy. If that person wants it. I would be really surprised if someone got both quotes from this chapter and the last.**

**Here's chapter 6!**

Edward gave in. He didn't want to and he was positive that it was a huge mistake. "Having the police chief's daughter sell weed is either going to hurt us or help us," he said. He wasn't even sure if people would buy from me which is why I think he lost the fire in his fight to convince me that I shouldn't. He didn't think I could do it, which only made me want to try harder to prove him wrong. However reluctant he was about the whole situation, he was still helpful. He told me everything he knew about selling pot, over the phone of course. We have yet to meet in person. There's not a reason behind it, we're both just really busy. When he finally agreed to let me sell I thought that we would get to meet, you know, because I would need to get my merchandise from him, but he informed me that I would have to go see his "guy" for that.

He gave me an address in Port Angeles and told me to go there at 5 PM on Saturday. I was extremely nervous, my mind full of questions, none of which I would ask Edward, because he would most likely see it as weakness and change his mind about me selling. In my mind, I imagined mobsters or gangsters with guns and drugs in a warehouse in an old deserted part of town. However worked up I got though, I sucked it up and went anyway.

Imagine my surprise and relief when the address Edward gave me led me to a beautiful cottage home at the end of a dirt road. After I knocked on the door I was greeted by a lovely middle age woman. She said that her name was Esme and that she had been expecting me. She led me into her home to the kitchen where she offered me a cup of tea.

She put me at ease with small talk so much so that I forgot that I was there to buy marijuana. So when she excused herself and disappeared into the other room only to return moments later with a large plastic bag filled with smaller plastic bags filled with weed I was taken back for a second. Seeing her standing there offering me the bag in her perfect house in her spotless kitchen with perfect caramel hair in her heels and pearls was a shock. I snapped out of it and took the bag from her when she began to shake it at me and placed it in my old messenger bag from high school. Edward told me I would need a bag, he suggested a diaper bag, but I didn't have an extra.

When I asked her how much I owed her for it she said that Edward had covered me for three ounces. I noticed that her demeanor had changed when she started talking about business. She was extremely serious, almost mean. She informed me that next time I came to get more I would need to call first, for my own safety, and then she had me memorize her number. She said not to ever write it down or save it in any phone. She also said that next time I would need to pay in cash, $350 an ounce and that I would need to break it down myself. So I would need a scale and my own baggies. Before I left she said that if I could do those things then we shouldn't have any problems.

The next day my pager, the one Edward suggested that I get, blew up. Apparently Edward had given his Forks customers my number. He said that this was good for them because instead of them coming all the way to him in PA, I could go to them, which is what I spent my Sunday doing. Jackson offered to keep Sheridan while I went out to "run some errands". He didn't know it then, but he would've been keeping her whether he offered or not.

First, I went to Jamie's, the wild woman who lives in the upstairs apartment across from Fran's liquor store. Fran had told me all about the men who come in and out of her apartment, one of those men being Carlisle Cullen.

Then, there was Seth, a young Native American kid from La Push. I call him a kid but in truth he's only two or three years younger than me. I met him at an old abandoned grocery store parking lot in town where a lot of kids hang out and skate board. He bought a whole ounce so I was worried that he planned to sale to some of the kids there, but he assured me that he and some friends his age were splitting it up. I'm not sure if I was truly convinced or if he distracted me with his sweet smile and boyish good looks but I sold it to him. The boy is a charmer, which makes him dangerous.

Sometimes I was surprised by who paged me, and other times I wasn't. Like when Emmett paged me, not much of a surprise, or Carlise either, but Mrs. Lipman from next door, now that was a surprise. I just couldnl't picture the little 80 year old lady with glacoma and almost no hair smoking a doobie before Sunday morning services at the Baptist church.

I burned through the rest of my supply at work the next couple of days. Word gets around quick in a small town. Most people who bought from me at work would buy a gram, which was good for me because it was more discreet and grams had a larger profit margin than an eighth or quarter sack.

It wasn't until I found myself getting ready to call Esme for the first time that I took a second to really think about what I was doing. The chances that I was taking. It took a few seconds of thinking about that for the panic to bubble up, but somehow I found an inner strength from somewhere, and pushed it down. I couldn't think about that. If I allowed myself to think too much I would back out, and I couldn't back out now. Not with the profit I made in three days upstairs in my tampon box under the sink in my bathroom with the rest of the supply I had left. In three days I made what takes me two weeks to make at Fran's.

So, here I stand, for the second time in my whole life, at Esme's door, waiting for her to answer. I probably look like a high school student standing here wearing my empty messenger bag, blue jeans and my old Forks High Softball sweatshirt. It doesn't take her long to answer.

"Hello Bella. Come on in." She greets me kindly in all her perfection. "How've you been?" she asks as if we hadn't just seen each other just a few days ago, when I enter her home.

"I've been great. How bout you?" I ask as she leads me into the kitchen from which some wonderful smells are coming. Maybe sooner or later with some of the extra money I'm making I can cook something besides hamburger helper for Sheridan, Jackson and myself.

"I've been good, just staying busy." Upon entering the kitchen I notice that we're not alone. Sitting at the table chopping vegetables is Alice. "Bella, I'd like for you to meet my daughter Alice." Alice smiled brightly up at me and then at her mother.

"Actually mom, Bella and I've already met. She came to the shop to have some work done on her car not too long ago," she said as she stood. Then she walked over to me and gave me a gentle hug. "It's good to see you again Bella."

"You too Alice." Before she pulled away I felt a soft kick against my stomach. Then I noticed the sling Alice wore over her shoulder and the small bump under her breasts.

"Well then Bella, I'd like for you to meet my grand daughter Everlee." Esme said as she lifted a tiny baby girl from the sling around Alice.

When I saw Everlee's face I gasped. She was one of the two most beautiful babies I had ever seen. She looked exactly like Sheridan did as an infant. "She's beautiful." I mumbled in my stunned state.

"Isn't she?" Esme asked proudly.

_How is this possible?_

"Bella? Are you ok?" Alice asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Oh. Yes. I'm fine," I said nervously looking at Alice. "It's just that she's so stunning."

_Could I just come right out and ask who her baby's daddy was or was that rude?_

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Esme asked. "We made couscous."

"Really? Couscous. The food so nice, they named it twice." I replied nervously again. Then felt like a complete idiot immediately after. _Where did that verbal diarrhea come from?_ _Must shut up soon._ "Uhh, no, actually, I really need to get home. I still need to cook dinner myself."

"Of course," Esme said as she handed Everlie back to Alice. "How much do you want?"

"Four ounces please."

"Alright. Just a sec." she said before she disappeared into the other room.

"So Bella, we should get together sometime and have lunch or go shopping maybe." Alice said as she put Everlie back into the sling and sat down to finish chopping veggies. I didn't miss the subtle glance at my clothes when she mentioned shopping.

"That sounds nice Alice, I know I need to do some shopping for myself but it may be a while before I have the money. I still need to pay Edward back." I didn't like sharing my money problems with people but she had to see that I wasn't the type to go on a shopping spree on a whim.

"Edward finally told you it was him who paid for your brakes?" she asked as she sliced into a juicy tomato. When my jaw dropped open she looked up and slapped her hand over her mouth. "Shit! I guess he didn't."

"No, I was talking about paying him back for my first buy, which he covered for me…So, Edward paid for my brakes too?" I asked more to myself than to Alice. "So, the description you gave me of the person who had supposedly paid was just made up right?"

"Yes, I just made it up. When you asked I just tried to be vague, I really didn't know what to say. I'm sorry I lied to you Bella, but Edward was pretty adamant about you not knowing it was him."

"Here you are hon!" Esme called as she entered the kitchen.

"Thanks." I mumbled as I stuffed the four ounces into my bag. "See ya next time." I said before handing Esme fourteen hundred and turning to leave.

Later that night, I was finally able to get Edward on the phone.

"I didn't tell you because I knew that you would think that I was a creepy stalker. I mean, we were completely strangers then! Tell me you wouldn't have thought it was wierd. And if you didn't know who paid for your brakes you wouldn't know who to try to pay back, like I'm sure your're going to try to do. "

"Well of course I'm going to pay you back! And I get why you didn't tell me, Edward, but what I don't get is why you did it to begin with. Why would you think that I needed help when you didn't even know me?"

He was silent.

"Edward? Tell me. Did Jasper say something to you about me before he left?"

"He told me about Jeff. He told me about how he died. We were both pretty stoned. I think he just needed someone to talk to. He told me about you and Sheridan, about how you were worried and how he was worried about you both."

He paused for a moment and then he said, "I feel very protective of you Bella."

I didn't know what to say.

"I guess wtih everything Jasper told me about you, I grew attached. You weren't as much of a stranger to me as I was to you. Then when Alice told me you had come into the shop while I was gone, I didn't think twice about not charging you for the work on your brakes. I would've done anything to help you. I still would."


	7. Chapter 7

**SURPRISE! I hope yall are smiling. I won't waste your time with excuses. I don't have a good one anyway. **

**Ok, so I am a little disappointed that nobody got my movie quotes! Come on, they aren't that hard. I believe it was chapter 5, the quote was: "There are enough assholes in the world, don't be another one." This one was from the movie **_**The Wackness**_**. Good movie, mostly about pot. Rent it today. **

**Then chapter 6 was: "Couscous. The food so nice, they named it twice." This one I was so sure that someone would get! It was from **_**Pineapple Express**_**! One of the best movies I've seen in a while. Lots of good belly laughs, shits good for you. Rent it asap. It too is about pot. **

**This chapter's movie quote is Katie's little rant about "the big game". I put it in bold. It's from an older movie that came out in the mid to late 90s. Hint: Sean Patrick Flannery **_**yummy! **_**You'll see. Read on. Oh but before you do…**

**I own nothing. **

**And! I haven't said this in the past chapters but I feel the need to say it now. **

**Drugs are bad, ok? Just because I do them, and the fictional characters in this story and the movies I sometimes quote do too, doesn't mean that you should or that it is ok, because it is illegal. Sort of. And drugs can have harmful effects on your health and life and the health and lives of those around you. So, don't do drugs. Unless prescribed by a doctor. **

Ch7

It took me a couple weeks before I finally had enough money stashed away to pay Edward back. I gave it to Alice to give to him the last time I went to Esme's to make a buy. She assured me that she would get it to him. So, I wasn't surprised when he called me the next day, not sounding too happy.

"I told you I'd pay you back," I answered smugly. No need to pretend that I didn't know why he was calling.

"And I told you not to worry about it." His tone was rough. And I liked it.

"Whatever Edward. Get over it."

"That was pretty smooth of you to send the money through Alice though. She still feels so guilty for lying to you."

"Well, now all's forgiven since I've paid you back."

"You know you over paid me for your brakes, right?"

"I paid with interest, Mr. Masen." _Are you trying to flirt, Bella_?

It was Thursday night when I got a page from Seth. We had just finished dinner. Katie, who was always over now, was washing dishes while Jackson was drying. I was cleaning spaghetti Os off of Sheridan's face when my pager vibrated against my hip. I recognized the number as his.

"Hey guys? Do you mind watching Sheridan for a few? I need to run to Fran's real fast before she closes up for the night."

"Sure. Not a problem," Katie answered for them both.

I went upstairs quickly, grabbed my messenger bag and kissed Sheridan as I headed out the door. I jumped into my car and started it up, but before I put it into drive…

"Boo!" Someone yelled from behind me.

"Good God Seth! What the fuck?! You almost gave me a heart attack! Are you trying to orphan my kid?" I said clutching my chest while trying to catch my breath.

He crawled up into the passenger seat. "Sorry B," he said with a chuckle.

I put the car in drive and pulled away from my house. I wasn't too sure about how I felt about him knowing where I live. I mean, it is Forks, so I understand that it's kind of hard not to know everything about everyone, but it still bothered me a little. "What's up Seth?"

"Not much. Just need the usual."

"Are you kidding me? I just sold you an ounce yesterday! You and your friends couldn't have smoked it already."

"I know, we usually don't smoke so much, it's just that we've been going to the midnight showing of the Passion of the Christ at the drive up theater by First Beach. Every year the Baptist Church puts it on in an attempt to bring Jesus to the "savages", and every year me and the guys get baked and watch it."

"You got stoned to watch the Passion of the Christ? That's disturbing."

"Not as disturbing as watching it sober, it's a straight up snuff film!"

"Well, why don't you take a week off, you know, detox or something."

"Come on B! I've got cash." He pulls out a wad of bills and waves it in my face. "I heard that you've got Jackson staying with you now. That's got to be costing you some extra green. Especially trying to feed a sixteen year old growing boy."

Shit. He was right. Jackson could eat. And Katie was over for dinner all the time now.

"You gonna play by the rules?" I asked as I pulled over in front of the high school.

"I'm telling you B. I'm not dealing, especially not to any kids. Personal use only," he puts up two fingers like a boy scout. "I swear."

I handed him the ounce and he handed me five hundred.

"It's late. You need a ride?"

"Nah. This is small town Forks," he said as he got out of my car. "Safe to walk the streets at night and all that. Take it easy B."

"Bye Seth," I said before he closed the passenger door.

Friday at work was wild. The whole town was buzzing for tonight's game against LaPush. The football game was always close, which always made for a good game. People seemed ready to celebrate. I was selling beer, liquor and weed faster than I could think about it. It was almost time for me to clock out when Rosalie came through my check out line with her bottle of Grey Goose again.

"You coming to the game tonight?" she asked shyly.

"Umm…probably not."

"Oh come on Bella. We could go together and throw peanuts at cute boys like we use to. Please." She stuck out her lip in a pout. She looked so much like the little girl I use to know when she did that.

What could it hurt? I was past all the high school drama. We are adults now, maybe things could be different.

"Why the hell not? Ok. I'll go, but we'll meet at the front gate." I needed to bring my car, just in case I changed my mind about her. As much as I wanted to be friends again, there was no denying that the bitch is crazy, and I wasn't about to allow myself to get stranded somewhere with her as my ride.

Rose let out a squeal of excitement as she reached across the register and hugged me. "We'll have so much fun! Just like old times!" Then she threw down her money and headed towards the door.

After work, I picked up Sheridan from daycare like I do everyday and went home.

So, imagine my surprise when I opened the front door to my house and found Katie straddling Jackson horizontally on my couch, both in their undies. I was a bit shocked.

"Really guys? Come on!" I said exasperated. Upon hearing my voice they both flew apart and scampered to cover themselves. "I come home at the same exact time every day! You should know this by now."

"Sorry Bella," Jackson said with his head hung in embarrassment. He had a throw pillow from the couch clutched over his erection. Katie's face was blood red, her hair was a mess and her lips swollen. She was trying to cover herself with Jackson's t-shirt.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at them before taking Sheridan into the kitchen. By the time I made her a sippie cup of juice they were dressed and entering the room.

"Look guys, I'm not dumb. I know that kids your age have sex. I'm not much older than you both. Just be safe… and please! Don't do it on my couch. Sheridan takes naps on that couch sometimes."

"We're really sorry Bella," Katie said. "We just got a bit carried away, but we promise it won't happen again. We swear."

"Yeah, Bella, we swear, never again," Jackson swore. Then he added, "on the couch."

I made a quick dinner for us all, and while we ate I asked them if they wanted to go to the big game with me. Jackson looked up from his plate a bit hopeful and I'm positive he was about to agree to go before he was cut off by Katie's reply.

Katie said that **the big game was stupid and that she was getting into culture now, like reading books that weren't assigned and seeing bands, and that team sports were immature and violent rituals expressing an underlying desire for men to be together sexually and for political reasons it was essential that we not go.** Then she turned to Jackson and asked, "You think we'll miss any good parties?" Jackson just shrugged his shoulder and continued to stuff his face.

I laughed. "You may be right about team sports Katie, but I think that football has more to do with expressing an underlying desire for men to simply hit each other."

I bundled up Sheridan and myself and headed off to the high school for the game. I thought about leaving her at home because it's soooo cold but I couldn't bring myself to leave her there with the teenage horn dogs. _Bitter much, Bella?_ _At least someone in that house is getting some._

I pulled up to the high school and followed the line of cars to the parking lot. After parking I pulled on my messenger bag and got out to grab my kid from the back. While rounding the front of my car I noticed a group of young high school kids hanging out on the tailgate of a truck a few rows in front of me. However, that wasn't what caught my eye. What caught my eye was the slightly older familiar "kid" with them. Seth. I would've driven myself crazy with this for the rest of the night, asking myself if he was dealing to kids, then convincing myself that he wasn't, even though in my gut I knew he was. For some reason I didn't want to believe it. So, it's a really good thing that I actually saw it with my own eyes: Seth's hand, with a little baggie of green, slip into the hand of a younger boy. Most people would've never noticed it, but I did, because I did it everyday, just not to kids.

Rosalie was at the gate like we had agreed. We found our seats and she chatted and I tried to follow along. She talked a bit to Sheridan, mostly about her clothes.

"Sheridan honey, you should not let your mommy dress you in overalls. The only people who should wear overalls are farmers."

"They keep her warm, Rose. I can't have her getting sick," I said as I handed her over. "Here, hold her for a minute. I need to go to the restroom. Do you want anything from the concession stand? Peanuts? Popcorn?"

"Yes, get me a diet coke and some peanut m&ms."

"Alright. Be right back."

I went to the restroom first, where I ran into Kally from the pharmacy. I sold her a quarter. She likes to talk my ear off every time we see each other. This time she wanted to tell me how her job and my job were a lot alike. The only difference being that her drugs were legal and mine weren't.

Then while waiting in line at the concession stand I ran into Mr. Martin, the schools band director. He bought a quarter also.

I finally made it back to the stands with our snacks in time to see the last few minutes of the game. LaPush won, not surprising since their boys were huge. What are they feeding those kids? Hanging out with Rose hadn't been that bad. I could handle her, in small doses. We ended our night with a some what awkward hug and I headed to the car with Sheridan on my hip. Letting her waddle to the car with all the layers I had dressed her in just seemed cruel.

I had just strapped Sheridan in and closed the door when I felt cold hands grab me around the waist. I whirled around to see my attacker.

"Seth! Jesus!"

"Ha! I love getting a rise out of you!" he laughed.

Seeing his smiling, joking face set me off. All of a sudden I was filled with rage.

"You swore to me Seth! You told me you weren't dealing! You promised me no kids!" I had caught him by surprise. His eyes were as big as saucers. Good. Little liar wouldn't have time to think of a good excuse, to think of a defense.

"What?! I'm not Bella, I wouldn't do that."

"Bullshit! I saw you. Before the game. Right over there." I pointed to the truck.

That's when his lying eyes turned dark. He knew I knew and he was pissed. He grabbed me hard with his big hands around my arms and pushed me against my car door. I sucked in a breath a held it. Then, he lowered his mouth to my ear and spoke in a hushed angry voice that made my skin crawl.

"Look Isabella, when you opened up shop here, you took away a lot of my business but I let it go. So what I sell to kids, let their parents worry about it. I'm selling to whoever's buying. Besides, what are you gonna do about it? Huh? You gonna tell on me? Run and tell daddy? You do that. I'm sure Chief Swan will love to hear all about what his daughters been up to. If I go down, you're going with me, B." Then he pulled away, kissed me on the forehead and released my arms. "I'll be in touch," he said before he disappeared.

I released the breath I had been holding as soon as he was gone. Then I quickly got into the car and sped home.

It's not like I hadn't thought about this. I know that what I've gotten myself into isn't safe. People can get hurt. I could go to jail. Even worse…

But I couldn't let myself think about that.

My bills are paid. There's a full tank of gas in my car. There are groceries in the kitchen and money in my checking account. I hadn't felt this secure and stable since Jeff was here. But was it worth it? I have a lot to think about.

**In this chapter you may recognize Bella's interaction with Seth as a lot like Nancy's interaction with Josh in season 1 of Weeds. I know this. I will do that occasionally because I want to and I like it. But mostly because I'm not creative enough to come up with my own shit. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Just a little chapter for ya. **

**I own nothing.**

**Drugs are bad.**

Ch 8

I was lying naked in my favorite body of water: my bath tub, trying to relax my body and mind. I shouldn't have to force myself to relax, it should just happen, but with all this shit with Seth my mind wouldn't stop.

"Bella? Bell-a!" I heard Jackson calling.

"In here!" I called back.

"Bella, I need to get going- Whoa!" he said as he saw me in the tub and quickly turned around. "Awkward! Could've warned me you were taking a bath," he spoke with his back to me and Sheridan on his hip.

"It's a bubble bath, you can't see anything," I explained. "Where are you going?"

"Umm…just some errands," he cautiously turned to face me. "What happened to your arm? Is that a bruise?"

I looked down to see what he was talking about and sure enough there on the upper part of my arm was a bruise the shape of Seth's hand.

"Who did that to you Bells? What's going on?" Jackson asked worriedly.

"Nothing. Nobody. I tripped over a case of MGD at work. You know how clumsy I am. Luckily this guy was there to grab me. Kept me from face planting in the beer isle. I guess he grabbed me harder than I thought. I do bruise easily though, so…" I looked up from the bruise to see if he believed me. It didn't look like he did.

"Oh…well be careful."

"Sure." He looked like he was about to say something else. "Give me five minutes. When I'm done you can head out."

"Alright." He gave me one last look and walked away.

I got out of the tub and got ready for my day. I dressed in some old jeans and a hunter green thermal shirt. It was Saturday and I had the day off. I went downstairs to watch cartoons with Sheridan and Jackson left immediately after.

After lunch, Sheridan and I went to the Thriftway to grab a few things. I was in the refrigerated section searching out the 2% milk when Emmett rounded the corner and crashed into my buggy before he had a chance to even see me.

"Owh!" I yelped out when my buggy rolled back over my toe upon impact.

"Oh Bella! Geez! I didn't see you there. Are you ok?"

I leaned over and rubbed my big toe through my converse sneaker. "I think I'll survive. You should be careful though." I looked up at him with a small smile to show him I was joking.

"Bubba!" Sheridan squealed.

"Hey Beautiful," Emmett replied as he reached over and softly pinched her cheek. Sheridan shrugged her shoulder up against her cheek where he touched her and gave him a shy smile.

"How've you been Em?" I asked.

"Good. I'm just doing some shopping for tomorrow tonight. You're coming right?"

"Oh yeah. Poker night, of course."

"Great. Maybe you won't have to run off so fast this time. Maybe stick around and play a few hands and give us all a chance to win our money from you."

"Nah. I don't think so." I said reluctantly. "You guys don't want some lame mama hanging around putting a damper on guys night."

"You are definitely not a lame mama. I'll have you know that all of us guys think that you're a milf." He finished his statement with a wink.

My eyebrows rose and my mouth dropped open slightly. _They think that I'm a milf? Is Em flirting with me? Don't blush Bella!_

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, well that just goes to show that you guys smoke too much."

"Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree then," he said while looking into my eyes. Then he licked his full lips in a simple but erotic way and smiled crookedly at me. I felt like someone had turned on an oven, and that oven was me. I wanted to stick my tongue in his dimples. "I will see you two beautiful girls later." I watched his perfectly rounded ass walk away from me without saying a word. When he was out of sight and I was able to snap out of the lustful spell he had me under, I scolded myself for being such a mute idiot and for having dirty thoughts about my friend Emmett.

Jackson was back when we got home. He was in his room with the door closed and his music turned up. I guessed he wanted to be alone.

Sheridan and I were coloring later that day when Edward called.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Are you busy?"

"Not really. Just coloring with Sheridan."

"I need to talk to you about Jackson."

"Ok." I felt panic rise in my stomach, even though I knew he was here at home, I was still worried about my little brother-in-law.

"He came to the shop to see me today to ask me for a job."

"Really?" Ok, that wasn't bad, nothing to worry about.

"Yeah, I think he feels like he needs to help out around the house, with money I mean."

"You and I both know there's no need for that. What did you tell him?"

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I told him I would think about it. On one hand I know that you really don't need any help financially but on the other he's almost seventeen. Most guys his age want extra money for stuff, like dates and going out with friends, you know? And I could use an extra pair of hands around here."

"So he would only be involved in the mechanic part of your business, not the other part…"

"Yes, of course, no weed. I wouldn't dream of it."

"Ok, good. Yes, then you have my blessing. I think it sounds like a good idea."

"Great, then I guess I will let him know."

"Alright."

"Bella, he told me about the bruise."

"Oh." Shit.

"I don't think he believed the story you gave him. I think he's more perceptive than you think."

"Damn."

"You should start thinking about being more discreet. Or…"

"Or what?"

"Or just tell him."

"What? No way! I couldn't. What would he think? No. Not gonna happen."

"Just think about it. If he knew, it might be safer, for everyone."

"I don't think so Edward."

"I'm just asking you to think about it. Meanwhile, why don't you tell me what really happened to your arm?"

"I just had a little run in with a customer. I'm figuring it out. Don't worry."

"Maybe I can help. Tell me. Was it one of my customers?"

"You know Seth?"

"Seth Clearwater. Yeah, I know him. He put his hands on you?!"

"He's been buying a lot lately, more than any of my other customers, and he swore that he wasn't dealing to any kids, but Friday night when I went to the game I saw him. I knew he was lying. I should've trusted my gut. So, when I confronted him he got angry and grabbed me. It wasn't that bad really. I do bruise easy. But he threatened to tell the Chief. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about him yet."

"You have to decide if his dealing to kids is worth the money he pays you for weed. He's probably going to deal to anybody who's looking to buy. If it's not worth it to you, ignore his pages. He'll find another supplier."

That night Seth paged me once and I didn't call him.

Sunday morning I woke up early. I felt like making pancakes for Sheridan and Jackson. Myself too. To my surprise when I got downstairs Jackson was sitting at the table sipping coffee.

"Good Morning," I said.

"Morning," he said back with a small smile.

"What are you doing up so early?"

Jackson slightly shrugged his shoulders and said, "I haven't been sleeping so great."

"You having girl trouble?" I made myself busy with starting on the pancakes.

"Guess you could say that."

"You want some pancakes?"

"Sure."

I looked up at him to tell him that girls can be fickle and that they make stupid decisions sometimes and that things would work out. But I wasn't sure if he was talking about Katie or me. And I'm not sure if I wanted to know if it was me. So I brought up the small brown cardboard box that sat in front of him on the table. "What's that?"

He released his coffee cup and picked up the box to extend it out towards me. "Not sure. I found it by the door this morning. It has your name on it."

I put down the whisk and took the box from him. "humm…wonder what it could be."

While breaking it open I thought about who would send me something and came up with no one. Inside was a note, and underneath the note was something that looked like brass knuckles, but not made of brass. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was a stun gun called blast knuckles. 950,000 volts. What the hell? Who the hell?

I opened the note.

_Bella,_

_This is for next time you trip at work. _

_Edward_

I smiled.

"Is that a stun gun? Wow! It is! I saw a video on youtube of these guys using one of those on each other. Blast knuckles are bad ass." Jackson explained. "I heard that if you shock someone below the waist it will make them piss their pants," he continued with a chuckle.

"Sweet." I wrapped my fingers through the stun gun with my pointer finger over the little red trigger button. With my other hand I switched it into the on position. The little red light lit up and I got excited. Jackson watched with wide eyes. I briefly pressed the red button and there was a bright flash with a loud crackling noise that resounded throughout the kitchen. It startled us both.

"Holy shit, that's amazing," I said with awe. I loved it. It made me feel so powerful. I couldn't wait to use it.

Later I texted Edward a thank you.

**The movie quote from the last chapter was from _Girl. _No one got it. There is no movie quote in this chapter. :(**


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter does have a movie quote, it's in bold. But I tried to make it easier by introducing a couple of characters from the same movie. I hope you guys can get this one.**

**As usual, drugs are bad and ****I own nothing.**

Ch. 9

I packed away my new stun gun in my messenger bag and headed out to Emmett's for poker night with the guys. Not that I thought that I would need it there, but you never know who you might run into. Emmett had promised me a couple of customers tonight, not a whole lot but enough to get my ass off of the couch. I didn't want to show up too early but not too late either. I didn't want everyone losing their money before they had a chance to buy. That would suck.

Emmett lived in a nice house right in town. You wouldn't imagine him living here if it weren't for the 'man cave' in the basement. The inside of the house was perfectly decorated with nice modern furniture and the yard was perfectly manicured. If you really thought about it, it didn't look like anyone lived there. I mean, usually there are signs of habitants, like trash in the trash can or dishes in the sink, but not here. It was strange. The 'man cave' was a different story though. It reminded me of a college dorm room, only bigger with no desks or beds. Emmett had these huge red plaid couches in front of the largest flat screen I had ever seen, complete with the game consoles that can grab and hold the undivided attention of any man child in the room. Nintendo or Xbox or Playstation, I'm not sure which, if not all, he had. There was a kitchenette and bathroom on one side and table next to it. Behind the couches was a poker table and a fooze ball table. But what blew my mind was the huge tub against the wall with the can crusher mounted above it. It was always full of crushed beer cans. Emmett is an avid recycler.

Upon entering the 'man cave' I realized that poker night was starting to resemble a party. There were quite a few people, and all of them men. I was immediately greeted by Emmett. It was almost like he was waiting for me.

"Bella. Yes. You're here. Nice." Nice indeed. Emmett was looking scrumptious in an old Forks football t-shirt and worn out jeans.

"Yep. I'm here, with my goodies." I said. Emmett raised an eyebrow at me and grinned crookedly. I realized then that 'my goodies' could mean something entirely different from what I intended, so I gave my messenger bag a little shake.

"Great" Emmett said chuckling. "Look, I was hoping that I could go ahead and buy mine first."

"Sure. Whatever you want. Are you scared I'm going to sell out or something?"

"Yeah, actually I am. There are quite a few guys here wanting to buy." He said as he handed me a wad of cash.

I opened up my bag and pulled out a quarter sack. "Quite a few? How many is quite a few?"

"Like everybody."

"Emmett! You said a couple customers. I'm not sure I'm going to have enough."

"Sorry Bella, I'm not good with numbers."

"Emmett, you're an accountant! How can you say that?" I laughed. "I can't believe people trust you with their money."

"Easy" he warned. "What's the big deal anyway? If you sell out, oh well, that's good. Right?"

"No, that's not good. It's bad for business to be dry. I like for my customers to feel like their dealer always has what they need." I whined.

"I'm sorry Bells. It just kind of snow balled. A few of the guys told a few other guys and well I thought this would be good."

"No Em, don't apologize. It is good. Thanks." I patted him on the arm and made my rounds.

While making my rounds I ran into Dante and Randall. I knew Dante from the Quick Stop in town where he works and Randall from the movie store where he works. They're best friends, which I don't understand because they're constantly giving each other so much shit.

"What's up Bella?" Randall asked.

"Not a whole lot. How are you guys tonight?"

"You holdin'?" Randall asked, all business like and serious.

"Uhh..." I was about to answer when Emmett came up beside me from out of nowhere and said, "**Shit, everything but coke, heroin and your cock**." We all got a good laugh and I shook my head yes.

"Good. Listen Bella, we heard you had some good stuff." Dante said.

"I do. How much do you guys want?"

"Just a gram." Dante replied.

"Alright." I dug out a little bag and handed it over to Randall who gave me the cash.

"You didn't get this stuff from the reservation did you?" he asked.

"No" I said a bit confused.

"Good, I am so tired of that nasty peyote shit they peddle around up here!" Randall explained.

I just laughed and shook my head at them. "You guys have a good night."

"Thanks Bella." They called as I continued to make my rounds in the man cave.

By the time I left I was sold out, but no one was left wanting.

When I got home it was about 9pm and Sheridan was still up. She was in nothing but her pull-up lying on the living room floor crying. Jackson was sitting next to her rubbing her back trying to sooth her. When she heard me come in she got up and came to me before I had time to set my bag down.

"What's the matter baby girl?" I asked as I picked her up and headed for the rocker. She just stuck her lip out in a pout and whined into my neck.

"I tried to put her to bed but she just cried and fought sleep the whole time. So I tried to get her to watch Cinderella but that didn't seem to work" Jackson explained. "I think she just wanted you."

She was still whimpering as I rocked her so I pulled out my old beat up ipod touch from my jeans pocket and unplugged the ear buds. I found out not long ago that for some reason Dwight Yoakam sooths her. So I set the volume low and played 'Close Up The Honky Tonks'. She was asleep before the song ended.

"I never would have thought of that" Jackson said quietly.

"I know, it's the strangest thing." I got up slowly to put her to bed. Just as I was about to head up stairs there was a knock at the door. I turned to look at Jackson. "Katie?" I asked. Please be Katie.

Jackson shook his head no. He looked as worried as I felt. We walked to the door together and I peaked through the peep hole. Seth was staring right back at me. Shit.

"Who is it?" Jackson asked.

"Here," I said as I handed over Sheridan gently. I needed her to stay asleep. "I need you to take her up stairs to my room and lock the door."

"Bella, no. Who is it?" Jackson started to panic.

"Jackson, just go up stairs ok?" I said in a whisper.

"No! I'm not leaving you. Let's just call Charlie. You don't have to do this."

"Shhh…quiet." Last thing I needed was for Seth to know that I wasn't alone. "We're not calling Charlie, that's not an option. I NEED you to take Sheridan upstairs and lock the door." I said sternly. We stared at each other for a few seconds before he started upstairs. "Jackson?" he turned to look down at me. "My old softball bat is in the closet." I faced the door and waited until I heard my bedroom door close and the lock click. Then I reached into my messenger bag and got my stun gun. As I turned it on I started to feel sick. Just yesterday I was excited to get to use it, but not now. Now I didn't want to have to get that close to Seth. I had ignored all his pages over the weekend and I knew he would be pissed. Even now as I peered at him through the peep hole I could tell he was pissed. The way the porch light cast an eerie shadow across his face was menacing.

He knocked again. Louder this time. And I jumped a bit. "I know you're in there Bella."

Shit.

I opened the door just enough to slip through and closed it behind me. I wasn't about to invite him in. I kept my body between him and the door. As much as I wanted to run being that close to him there on my tiny front step, he would have to go through me to get inside. "What do you want Seth? Why are you here?" I tried to sound tough and I thought that I did. But he just laughed.

"I want weed Bella. And I'm here, at your house, because you won't call me."

"Well, I'm all out. You'll have to find someone else."

"Bullshit." He grabbed my left hand, the one not holding the brass knuckles and slapped a roll of cash into my open palm.

"No Seth!" I threw the money at his face and it bounced off his forehead and hit the ground. "I told you, I'm dry."

He sucked in a breath through his nose, his nostrils flaring. "You're really starting to make me mad." He backed away from me but only to pick up his money, this time he shoved it in my jeans pocket. "Now, take the fucking money and go inside and get me what I want. NOW!" He was in my face now and I was scared.

"I-I c-can't." I spoke softly. "I'm telling you the truth Seth, I'm all out. I swear. I went to a party tonight and got wiped out."

He looked me in the eyes and I stared back. It was the truth, even if I wanted to sell to him, I couldn't. He seemed to see that I wasn't lying.

"Tomorrow," he said and started to walk away.

I couldn't let this happen again. Not here. Not at my house. "Page me," I called to his back. He turned and looked at me. "I'll call. I promise."

"Fine," he said and disappeared into the darkness.

I went back inside, locked the door and put the stun gun back into my empty messenger bag. Then I ran upstairs and knocked on my bedroom door. "Jackson" I called as I turned the knob. It was unlocked. I pushed the door open in a panic. "Jackson!" My room was empty. "Jackson!" I heard the lock on my bathroom door click and it flew open. Jackson stood there with the bat on his shoulder. Relief washed over me. "It's ok now. Where is she?" He moved out of the doorway and pointed to my tub. I moved past him and peered into the tub to find my baby girl curled up in the bottom on a towel asleep. I picked her up gently, so not to wake her, and held her tightly to my chest. I can't afford to be so stupid. Stupid! Stupid! I scolded myself. I took her and laid her in my bed. I needed her close to me tonight. I turned to see Jackson still standing in my room with the bat on his shoulder. His knuckles white from clutching it tightly.

"It's alright now Jackson," I said as I pulled the bat slowly from his grasp.

"Bella," he said quietly. I met his eyes and waited for it. The question I dreaded. _Please don't make me tell you Jackson._ It was selfish of me I know, but admitting it to him was like admitting it to Jeffery. He would be disappointed that I've failed and that I've turned to dealing and that I've put our little girl and his little brother in danger. I knew that if Jeffery were still here he would be so disappointed in me and that feeling literally made me want to vomit. Jackson must've heard my silent plea because he never finished.

"Jax, maybe you should leave," I started.

"What?" he asked in disbielf. "Are you? Are you kicking me out?"

"No, I would never kick you out! I'm just saying that I would understand if you wanted to leave. I wouldn't blame you for leaving if you didn't feel…safe."

"I'm not leaving, Bella. You couldn't make me leave." He said with too much conviction for a sixteen year old boy.

"You're sure?" He nodded.

I gave him a half smile. "I guess I'm stuck with you then." I tried to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said as he let out a breath loudly.

"Thanks Jax," I said as I stepped to him and gave him a hug. When he returned it, I squeezed him tighter. "I'm sorry," I said so quietly I don't know that he heard me.


	10. Chapter 10

**WE HAVE A WINNER!!! My girl, Musehere, got the movie quote from last chapter. It was from Clerks 2, which is the best Kevin Smith film, in my opinion. If you haven't seen it, run to your movie store and get it and Clerks today and then prepare to pee your pillowpants. ( ******** lame inside joke for those who have seen Clerks 2.)**

**This chapter has TWO movie quotes from the same movie, not Clerks but a different movie. **

**I own nothing.**

**Drugs are bad.**

Ch 10

Seth paged me as soon as I dropped off Sheridan at daycare the next morning. I entertained the idea of not calling him for a minute. There's no one home. Sheridan is at daycare, Jasper's at school and I was almost to work. Work. That's all I needed right now would be for him to show up there and make a scene and get me fired. So I quickly called him.

"I haven't had time to make the buy yet Seth." I explained immediately.

"I figured that." He replied calmly. Almost like he didn't care. This Seth wasn't so bad.

"You want me to call you as soon as I get the stuff?" I asked.

"Yeah, when do you think that will be?"

"Tonight. Nine –ish? Meet me at Thriftway." Not my house.

"Ok." And he hung up.

Work was boring until Rose showed up around noon. I had been so anxious for later that I happily accepted the distraction. She bought her usual Grey Goose Vodka and sat on the counter top beside my register while she picked at her nails and chatted with me. The store was not busy at all so I didn't worry about her hanging around. My job at the liquor store was still just as important to me as it was before I started dealing. I still needed my miniscule weekly pay check to pay bills. You see, I couldn't deposit cash into my checking account without leaving a paper trail. So, anything I could pay with cash, I did. Everything else came from my liquor store check.

We were interrupted in the middle of our debate on ass to mouth, because Rose is just raunchy like that, when a girl waltzed in. I say girl because she was a girl. Teenager to be exact. She wore a black sweater, jeans and dark eye make-up. She was beautiful with her long dark brown hair. Rose and I watched her walk over to the whiskey isle and then looked at each other with a sly smile. These were fun. The kids who came in and tried to be smooth and act like they weren't nervous to be illegally buying booze. The girl approached the counter with a bottle of Jack. She didn't seem to be nervous. She was good.

"ID please?" I asked.

The girl pulled out her ID from her back pocket and handed it to me. She wasn't even going to try with a fake one. I knew this scenario. She would hand me her real ID in hopes that I would play along and not really care that she was only…sixteen. Or she was hoping that I was just really dumb.

"I'm sorry…" I looked at her name on her ID before handing it back to her. "Ashley, but this ID says that you're only sixteen. I can't sell this to you."

She just rolled her eyes at me and walked out of the store without a word.

"Can you believe that? Kids these days." I said as I rounded the counter to put back the bottle of Jack Daniels.

"Was that the deaf girl from Dewey Street?" Rose asked. "What's her name? Ashley….Green?"

"Brown." I remembered from her ID.

"That's it!" she exclaimed. "She's the girl that gave fellatio to Dennis Cling. They call her the blow job queen of Dewey Street. Isn't Dewey Street your street?"

"No. No, next one over is Dewey."

As I headed back around the counter the door opened again and in walked Carlisle Cullen in all his glory. The man was really good looking but he just made my skin crawl a bit with his lingering stares at my breasts. I mean come on, they're breasts. Half the people in the world have them, some men have them, his mother has them. What's the big deal?!

"Oh my candy covered cock" Rose whispered. "Is that Carlisle Cullen? I swear he gets finer every time I see him." She watched him without shame as he walked to the cooler, grabbed a 6-pack of Guinness and made his way to me at the register.

"Hi Carlisle. How are you today?" I asked politely.

He looked at my face, then my breasts, then back at my face before answering. "I'm fine Bella. How are you?" He handed me a twenty.

I didn't bother answering him as I pressed the buttons on the register. "Carlisle, this is my friend Rosalie Hale, Rose, this is Carlisle Cullen," I introduced. She got pretty much the same as I did. Face. Breasts. Face.

"Lovely to meet you Rosalie." He said as he reached to shake her hand.

Rose pulled her shoulders back and poked out her chest. His eyes immediately went back to them and stayed there as she said in all seriousness, "**I wanna roll you into a little ball and shove you up my vagina.**"

My eyes, like his, went wide. I don't know why I was surprised by Rose, but Carlisle blushed furiously, grabbed his beer and left without his change. Poor guy. I thought he was a play boy. Guess I was wrong.

"He'll be back," Rose said confidently as she watched him leave.

Rose left not long after Carlisle and the rest of my day at the liquor store was no where near as eventful. Not even close.

As usual when I got off I went to get Sheridan. We went home and started dinner and waited for Jackson to get home. Today was his first day working for Edward. As soon as he walked through the door though I had to head to PA to Esme's in order to make it back to the Thriftway by 9 to meet Seth. I hadn't completely decided on what I was going to do yet but I knew that whatever was going to happen, it was not going down at my house.

Like every time I pull up at Esme's, I say a little prayer to God that maybe this time I will get to meet Edward. I mean, it's kind of weird how well we know one another but we've never met. I knew that he didn't live here but I did know that he came to his aunt's quite a bit for dinner. However, like every time I've been to Esme's, I was disappointed to find her by herself. I made the largest buy I'd ever made tonight. I could've swore I heard Esme mumble something about 'fucking King Pin' but Esme wouldn't say 'fucking' so I ignored it.

I made it to the Thriftway right at 9 and parked. I saw Seth approaching from the alley beside the store on his long board. He looked so much like a kid, I was put at ease. He opened my passenger side door and sat with his skateboard between his knees.

"Bella," he greeted me.

"Seth."

"Do you have what I need?" He asked without looking at me.

"Yes." But I made no move to give it to him.

"You gonna hand it over then?" Still not making eye contact with me.

"I really don't want to."

"Then we have a problem Bella." I felt the hair rise on the back of my neck, but it only spurred me on.

"I guess we do Seth." I said back boldly.

"Give me the weed Bella! I need it." He finally looked at me. That's when I noticed the black around his eye.

"What the hell happened to your eye?!"

He quickly jerked his head back to face the windshield. "Nothing. Just give me my shit!"

"Sure doesn't look like nothing. Who did that to you?"

"No one! Just shut up and give me the weed!" He was getting in my face again.

"Fuck you Seth! You're not getting shit until you tell me what the hell is going on!" I yelled back in his face.

"It doesn't concern you, Bella. It's my problem, not yours. We do business, this," he pointed at his left eye, "is personal."

"Bullshit." I called. I crossed my arms over my chest and faced forward. Kind of childish yes, but I wasn't giving in. I wanted explanations, not just for his black eye but for everything. His attitude, even the dealing to kids.

"What the fuck Bella!" he said exasperated. "You think I want to be here arguing with you? I don't have the time or the energy for this. I didn't wake up one day and decide that I wanted to be a dealer, much less one that sells to kids. I've got my reasons just like YOU do."

"Tell me your reasons Seth. I want to know. I need to know. Please."

"Why? So you can sleep at night knowing that you kept a couple of kids from ruining their lives with pot?" he asked sarcastically. "You're a hypocrite Bella."

"I may be, Seth, but we all have lines that we won't cross, and I'm the one holding the bag. You need it? Convince me."

We stared at each other for 5 minutes, I swear. I wasn't going to budge, but I could tell he was breaking. Finally, "What do you want to know exactly?" he asked with his elbows on his knees and his hands in his short black hair.

"Why do you need this weed? Who gave you that black eye? And why do you feel the need to sell to kids?"

"I need that weed because I need to make money. I owe some guys, well, actually my sister Leah, owes some guys, her ex Sam to be exact. Sam and Paul own the strip club in La Push, they like to party a lot, but they sell drugs too. Not just pot. Leah got hooked on coke." He shook his head in sadness.

"I guess she was costing him too much money so he dumped her and started dating her best friend Emily. That only made things worse for Leah, it sort of fueled her addiction further. Sam took advantage of her by letting her strip for coke." He said angrily. I couldn't imagine how that made him feel.

"I tried to help her, but she just wasn't Leah anymore. There wasn't anything I could do for a while, but finally I was able to convince her to go to rehab." A single tear slid down his brown cheek. He took a second before he continued.

"After she left, Sam came to me. He said my sister owed him too much money and now it was up to me to pay her debt. He had me selling his shitty ditch weed. Then you started dealing and people didn't want the crap I was trying to sell. They wanted the milf weed. All I could do was give the people what they wanted. So I started pushing your weed instead." He looked up at me, then down at the bag I held onto.

"If I'm late with his money," he pointed at his eye again. "this is what happens. Shits only going to be worse tomorrow." He laughed nervously.

"I would do anything for my sister, even sell drugs to a few teenagers. You may think I don't have any lines I won't cross Bella, but I do. That's why I'm taking the time to do this, to tell you my story. Because I'm not going to cross the line and hurt you, even though sometimes you make me want to."

"That's it. Can I have my weed now Bella?"

"Yes." I handed him the weed from my bag. He stuffed it into his backpack and got out without another word.

I couldn't judge Seth for what he does. Everyone has that one person they would do anything for. For Seth it was Leah and for me it was Sheridan. So I didn't think about it anymore and drove home to see my life, my little girl.

I was so tired and in such a daze that I didn't notice the blue van parked in front of my house. But I did almost pee my pants when I entered my living room and saw the blonde Jesus holding my baby. He was tanned with long blonde hair all over his head and face. He rocked a sleeping Sheridan with his eyes closed.

"Jasper? Is that you?" I asked in a whisper. He opened his eyes to reveal those baby blues and I knew immediately it was.

"Bells." He whispered with a smile.

"Good. You're home now." Jackson said as he appeared from the kitchen. "Tell him he can't stay here. There's no room. You can't stay." He said matter of factly to Jasper.

"I think that's up to Bella, little brother."

"Bella? Tell him."

"Well, I think that it would be fine, if Jasper stayed tonight, since it so late," I said looking at Jackson, "and then tomorrow we can discuss this more. I'm pretty exhausted anyway, so," I bent to take Sheridan from Jasper. "why don't you make yourself at home on the couch in Jackson's room for tonight Jasper." I turned to Jackson. "Ok?"

He was looking at the floor. "Fine."

"Good. I'm going to put Sheridan to bed now."

I spent a while in her room just watching her sleep. I thought about her and all the things I wanted for her. I thought about Seth and how, like me, he was just trying to do the best he could in the situation he was in. I also thought about Jackson. I would've never thought about how having Jasper back would affect Jackson. They're so different.

When I was too tired to go anymore I went downstairs to turn off lights and as I was passing by Jackson's room I heard him and Jasper talking in hushed whispers.

"**You better not go to sleep, as soon as your eyes shut I'm gonna punch you in the face**," Jasper said.

"**I hope you stay still when you sleep, cause I'm putting a rat trap between your legs**," Jackson threatened.

"**I'm** **gonna take a pillow case and fill it full of bars of soap and beat the shit out of you**," Jasper threatened back.

"**I want you out of my fucking house**," Jackson whispered.

"**No way Kemosabe. This is my house now**." Jasper whispered back.

_What the hell did you get yourself into Bella?_


	11. Chapter 11

**We have another winner! s m Neal got last chapter's movie quote from Step Brothers. Congrats!**

**So this chapter is interesting. There is no movie quote but there is a little something that I think a few of you might like. I liked writing it but it was a little hard to do. **

**Also, thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I really like hearing what everyone thinks, good or bad. **

**I own nothing.**

**Drug are bad.**

Ch 11

The next morning I found grizzly Adams and his brother in the kitchen in a stare down at the table over their bowls of cereal. I'm sure that if Jeffery were here, he would find the situation comical but I just found it annoying. I'm not sure if this is what put me in a bad mood or if I just woke up that way.

"Ok guys. It's too early for this," I said as I poured a cup of coffee. "Are you staying again tonight, Jasper?"

"No!" Jackson answered for his brother.

"Yes!" Jasper shot back at him.

"Fine. But we're talking about this tonight over dinner. I don't have time right now, and neither do you two. I need to get to work and Jackson, you need to get to school and Jasper, you need get to a barber. Please."

"Sure Bells. Anything you want," Jasper replied sweetly.

"Ass kisser," Jackson growled at his brother as he stormed out of the kitchen.

Work was slow again, even slower than yesterday. I spent most of the morning and afternoon dusting and sweeping. I was bent over sweeping dirt into the dust pan in front of the open broom closet when I heard a growl come from something behind me. It sounded like a bear. I straightened up and turned around quickly.

"Geez Em! You scared me!" I gave a little laugh to shake off my embarrassment. But Emmett wasn't laughing, he wasn't even smiling. He had this serious look on his flushed face and his eyes were sort of glazed over. "Em? Are you ok?"

That's when he pounced.

His arms shot out around my waist and his mouth attacked mine. The force with which he kissed me pushed us into the broom closet. First I registered shock, but when I allowed myself to feel his lips…I liked it. Of course I liked it, who wouldn't? His lips were firm and felt amazing against mine. It was like getting a massage after a long time of needing one. His pace was slow and sensual, it was nice. However, when I started to kiss him back, he stopped, and felt the need to start talking.

"I'm sorry Bella, but I can't stay away from you anymore." He said while still holding me close to him.

I reached behind him and closed the closet door. "Just shut up and kiss me." I was glad to find out that I didn't have to tell him twice. In the dark I felt his broad shoulders and his thick neck…his hard chest. He grabbed my ass and ground his hips into me. He was so hard and so big. Then he growled again and the sound went straight to my loins. I broke away from his kiss to catch my breath and his lips went to my neck. Gooseflesh broke out all over me.

"mmm…Bella, you taste so good." He said into my neck as he nibbled on the skin there.

The backs of my thighs found the top edge of an old keg so I slid my ass onto it and grabbed a hold of Emmett's dress shirt collar and pulled his mouth back down to mine. He stood between my legs while he blindly removed my converse sneakers. I felt them slip off my bare feet and then heard them plop onto the hard floor. His hands then traveled back up my legs and under the denim mini I wore today.

"I want to taste you Bella, please, let me taste you," he begged.

"uh huh," was my simple reply.

He reached under my skirt and wrapped his thick fingers around the waste band of my tights and panties and pulled. I helped by lifting my ass just enough off the keg for him to slide them down. When they were off, he kissed me while groping my breast in one hand and my ass cheek in the other. Then he ground his erection into me. God, it had been so long.

"I've wanted to do this for so long now Bella." He then dropped to his knees and started kissing my thighs. Both his hands had found purchase on my ass. Without any warning he dove face first into my wet sex and started licking like a starving man. My toes curled and I let out a loud moan. The feel of his tongue on my clit, his hands on my ass, and his cheeks lightly brushing against the inside of my thighs had me whimpering uncontrollably. I kept a firm grip on the keg. He had no mercy on me and I was falling over the edge within the minute. I had no time to enjoy the after shock of the orgasm that rocked through me and Emmett and no time to stand up before we heard a faint but distinct, "Bella?!"

I jumped up off the keg quickly, knocking Emmett on his ass. "Shit, shit, shit," I whispered. "It's Rose." I reached down for Emmett in the dark to help him up in the little closet. "I'll go out first and meet her at the front of the store. You wait and then go out the back. Ok?"

"Ok," he said. I moved to open the door. "Bella?!" I heard her call again.

"Wait," Emmett whispered.

"What?" I whispered back.

"Umm..I guess I'll call you? We can get together again?" He asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, sure," I answered just as awkwardly. "Call me."

I slipped out of the closet quickly and high tailed it to the front. Just as rounded the corner I ran into Rose.

"Bella. Good grief! Where were you? This place is creepy all by yourself. I don't see how you stand it."

"I was in the back cleaning, Rose. What are you doing here? Don't you have a job or something?"

"Well, somebody's crabby today. You should be nicer to people bearing gifts." She raised up a little pink gift bag to dangle from her finger. "After my classes today in Port Angeles I went by this little store called Cherry's and got you something that I think will help you with your crabby mood." She took a second to look down at me. "Where are your shoes Bella? Why are you wearing a short skirt in this weather?"

Shit. I had to think quickly. "I dropped a 6-pack of Bud Light and beer spewed everywhere. I soaked my shoes and tights. You know how clumsy I am."

"Oh. Well, here. Open your present." She accepted my story and held the present out to me.

I took it from her and went to the counter. "What the occasion?" I asked.

"No occasion. I just saw it and thought of you." She replied.

I peered into the pink bag and there past the white tissue paper in the bottom, still in its clear plastic package was a sleek purple vibrator. "Rose! What the hell?! You saw this and thought of me?"

"Well, yeah! What's wrong? You don't like it?" She seemed really hurt at the idea that I didn't like it.

"Umm…well, it's not that I don't…I just…well, I've never had one?" I didn't know what to say. It was a thoughtful gift, I guess.

"I just figured that since it's probably too soon for you to be jumping into bed with anyone but it's still been a while since you've been laid, that maybe this might get you through the in between stage." My mind immediately went to the closet and what just happened between me and Emmett. At no point during our jump in the closet did I think about Jeffery or that it was too soon. And that made me feel guilty. And that guilt made me feel sick.

"Thanks Rose." I mustered up what enthusiasm and sincerity I could and smiled. "I can't wait to try it out."

"I knew you would like it!"

A few minutes later, just as Rose was leaving she turned back to me and said, "Oh Bella, I almost forgot to tell you. I heard on the radio that there's a bear on the loose in town. Two people have already been attacked. So be careful, ok?"

"Ok. I will. Thanks Rose." She had no idea that I had already been attacked by that bear in the broom closet.

Later, on the way to pick up Sheridan from daycare, my cell rang.

"Hello?"

"Hello Bella. It's Edward. How are you today?"

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"Good. I just wanted to call to see if you had a chance to use your new toy yet?"

"What?!" How the hell did he know about my new toy? Oh my God, why would he ask me that?

"Your stun gun? Did you get to light Seth up like a Christmas tree?"

"Oh. No. I haven't gotten the chance to use it yet." I said relieved.

"So, you worked it out with him then?"

"Yeah, sort of I guess. He's just going through a rough time right now."

He was quiet.

"Anyway, how are things working out with Jackson?" I asked.

"Great. He's a hard little worker. Smart too. He told me earlier that Jasper's back, and that he staying with you."

"Yeah, and Jackson's not too happy about it."

"I noticed."

"We're going to have a talk about it tonight. Sort of get things out in the open. You know?"

"Yeah, that will be good. Sometimes you have to force guys to talk about shit."

"Yeah."

He was quiet again.

"Edward?"

"Yeah."

"I was wondering. I mean…I've been thinking…Do you think it's kind of strange that we've never met? Like maybe there's a reason? Because I keep thinking that we're bound to run into each other eventually, at Esme's or anywhere really, but we never do."

"Do you think there's a reason?" he asked.

"No, I don't think so. I'm not sure really."

"I don't think there's a reason. It just hasn't happened yet, I guess."

Just as he finished I heard a loud engine roar. "Sorry Bella. I have to go. I'll talk to you later. Bye!"

"Ok. Bye." That seemed a little weird.

I picked up Sheridan and headed home to start dinner.

I was stirring a pot of spaghetti sauce when the thought occurred to me. Maybe Edward doesn't want to see me. Maybe he's avoiding me. I'm not sure why I did it, maybe it was because I'm a stupid and insecure girl deep down, but I texted him.

_Are you avoiding me? Is that why we've never met?_

And I immediately regretted it. As soon as my finger hit the send button I wanted to take it back, but it was already sent. There was nothing I could do. This day was getting shittier and shittier, along with my mood.

By the time dinner was done and Jackson was home and we were all seated around the dinner table eating, my mood hadn't gotten any better. I really didn't want to open this can of worms, but I knew it had to be done.

"So, Jasper, what are your plans?" I asked. Both he and Jackson put their forks down.

"Well, I was hoping to stay here. I want to help, with money and keeping Sheridan and other stuff. You know, kinda be the man of the house," He replied.

"She doesn't need any help. I'm helping with money and I keep Sheridan when she needs me to." Jackson said.

"Like you make anything at that crappy job." Jasper shot back.

"Easy Jasper," I warned.

"I'd like to see you do better!" Jackson yelled.

"Enough! I'm not going to listen to this. Jasper, I'm doing fine, really. I've got Sheridan in daycare and money isn't a big deal so don't feel like you have to help us."

"Yeah," Jackson said.

"But Bella, it's got to be hard with Jackson here too."

"We're fine. Really. Jackson's a big help. He more than carries his own load around here. Besides, I was going to tell him that maybe he should quit Masen's Automotive, if he wants. There's really no need, and I'm sure Katie misses him as much as I do."

"Katie? Who's Katie?"

"My girlfriend. And no I don't want to quit. I don't want to bum off of you Bella. I want to pay for my own stuff, and help you out if you need it."

"Work if you want to Jackson, but don't worry about me. You're sixteen, you should be hanging out with your friends and going to the movies. What happened to the band? You should be doing gigs and practicing. Just be a normal kid, ok?"

"The Senior Christmas formal is coming up. Katie's probably going to ask me to go with her. Will it make you happy if I go to that?" He asked.

"Yes it would. Meanwhile, Jasper, I think it would be ok if you stayed here until you found a job and get your own place."

"Thanks Bells. I promise I won't be a problem."

I could tell this really bothered Jackson. He wouldn't look at me, his fists were clenched, knuckles white, his jaw was set tight and his eyes were wet.

"Jax?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

He didn't say anything. He didn't even move.

"Jax? Come on. What's the matter?" I urged.

His eyes shot to Jasper. "Don't get too attached Bella. He probably won't stick around for long, no telling which side of North America he'll be off to next."

"What's your problem man? You've been giving me shit since I got here." Jasper asked angrily.

"You're my problem!" Jackson stood and yelled at Jasper. "You come back and waltz in here like nothing happened. Where the hell were you? Huh? You missed your brother's funeral! Where were you?! Dad kicked me out and I had nowhere to go! Where were you?" he kept asking. Tears streaming down his face. I stood and ran around the table to him. I couldn't stand to see him hurting. He let me hug him to me, but pulled away quickly.

"I'm going for a walk." He grabbed his jacket and walked out the door. I turned to Jasper.

"I'm an asshole." Jasper said.

I sat back down next to him and looked him in the eye. "There is so much we need to talk about, so much you and Jackson need to talk about. So I need you to swear to me right now that you aren't going to leave again."

"I swear Bella. I'm not going anywhere. Not unless you want me to."

"What I want is for you to work this out with Jackson. I didn't realize until tonight how badly he needs you."

"I'm going to go look for him." He got up and grabbed his coat and headed out the door.

I watched him leave and then stood to clean Sheridan up. Bless her heart, she sat there during the whole argument and didn't say a word. I took her to the living room and put in the Little Mermaid for her to watch while I cleaned up the kitchen.

I was pouring the leftover spaghetti sauce from the pot to a storage container when the pot slipped from and fingers and landed with a thud on the floor. Spaghetti sauce splattered everywhere. On the floor, the cabinets and all over me. I was wiping sauce from my face and shirt when there was a knock at the door.

Without really thinking anything I swung the door open. There, standing on my front step was a beautiful man. A beautiful man I had never seen before. He was tall and slim with auburn hair that just went everywhere. He shot a hand through it, pushing it back away from his face. However, his hair just flopped back over into his stunning green eyes. He wore grungy jeans and a holey gray t-shirt with a blue and yellow plaid button-down over it. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down at his black boots. He seemed a bit nervous, or maybe he was just a little insecure.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"I'm not avoiding you Bella Swan." He looked up at me through his hair.

Edward. I smiled.

"You believe me?" he asked.

I shook my head up and down still grinning like an idiot.

"Good." He smiled back. Then he turned and started walking away from me. I began to panic, but I didn't try to stop him.

Halfway to the street he turned around and while walking backwards yelled out to me, "I'll see you around Bella."

I gave a little wave and watched him get into an old back Dodge Charger. When he drove away I shut the door and walked in a happy daze to the bathroom.

"Oh man!" I said when I saw myself in the mirror. It would be just my luck to meet the sexiest man alive for the first time with spaghetti sauce in my hair.

**Ok, I know that the ending was kinda cheesy, but I couldn't resist. She finally met Edward though! Yay! I bet you guys were wondering when that was going to happen.**

**So, I just popped my lemon cherry with Emmett giving Bella head on a keg in the broom closet. Bella's such a pimp. That was considered a lemon though, right? My mama always said that oral sex was still sex. **


End file.
